Shadows Reborn
by YinYangWriter
Summary: Part 1 of my five part epilogue crossover series. Old enemies, new friends, it's just a new beginning for the LYOKO warriors.
1. Insomnia

**I do not own **_**Code: LYOKO **_**or **_**Gargoyles**_**, but the OC's are mine. This is the twelfth entry in the **_**Light and Shadow **_**series and the third in the epilogue crossover.**

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><p>Alex Xanatos wasn't sure why he woke up in the middle of the night. The computer screen was black and his mobile wasn't ringing. Maybe his mobile did ring and it stopped when he woke. It was three in the morning and that meant it was about eight o'clock in France. Maybe one of his friends tried to call him before class started.<p>

No, that wasn't it. He could sense something else. He got out of bed and walked to his bedroom door. He found that all of the lights in the hallway were on. Alex looked around. Something was wrong.

Alex walked to where Hudson spent his nights in front of the television. The old brown gargoyle was not sitting in his recliner and Bronx, the blue gargoyle dog, was not lying on the floor, but the television was on. It was like there was an emergency and Hudson and Bronx had to quickly leave the room.

Alex left the room and saw Hudson and Bronx wandering up the hall.

"Is everything okay?" Alex asked.

Hudson looked at Alex. "Och, lad, you were supposed to be asleep," the old gargoyle said in his Scottish accent. "Nay, everything's not all right." Hudson knelt in front of Alex, his taloned hands on the boy's shoulders. "Your father is very ill. Your mother called the doctor and the doctor called an ambulance. They just left for a private hospital."

"What?" asked Alex, tears in his blue-green eyes. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, lad," said Hudson. "But they will find out."

Alex started crying. Hudson pulled the boy close and Bronx whined.

* * *

><p>Yumi was glad that it was she and Eva on the Hermitage roof and not Ulrich. Ulrich would have had a fit within five minutes of climbing up the ladder. The two girls were currently putting on a new roof. Jim was supposed to be helping them, but there was a phone call he had to make.<p>

Yumi brought the hammer down on a nail, hitting her finger in the process. She hollered something in Japanese, apparently rude words by the way she said them.

"Swearing about something isn't going to solve anything," said Eva cooly.

"I wouldn't call it swearing," said Yumi. "I could have said worse."

"Anyone want lunch?" Kayla called.

"Please!" Odd yelled from inside the house.

"You're a given, Odd," said Kayla.

"Yes, please!" said Yumi.

"Yes!" called Eva.

Yumi gave a small smile to Eva. "I noticed you're eating more," she said.

"Yeah, I'm sleeping better, too," said Eva. "Oddly enough, my parkour isn't as good as it was before Franz was out of my head and when I go to correct papers for Ms. Hertz, I find myself checking the answer book more than just trusting myself."

"Do you think it has something to do with Franz not being in your head?" asked Yumi.

"Probably," said Eva. "Maybe it wasn't sheer luck and studying that got me an early graduation."

"Hey, you're out of school," said Yumi. "You probably can fake it if you need to."

The two girls climbed down the ladder and went inside to see how things were coming. They did a lot of work in a couple weeks. Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, and Jeremy were painting the living room.

"Everything okay in here?" asked Yumi.

"We could use a break," said Jeremy, putting his paint roller down and rubbing his arm.

Eva looked around. "Where's William?" she asked.

"He went with Kayla to pick up lunch," said Odd.

Aelita looked around the room. "There's not much more we have to do," she said. "Except for the furniture, everything is just about how I remember it."

"I don't know how many secondhand shops sell pianos," said Ulrich.

"I'm not going to worry about that," said Aelita. "My father needs to find a job first. I can't keep relying on Eva for extra money."

"Eva?" asked Jeremy.

"I've been going back to old habits," said Eva. "I'm still a good street dancer."

"Have you thought about Chris' offer about going on tour with Subdigitals?" asked Odd. "I think that would be so cool! I want to go!"

"We'll see," said Eva. "I think that's who Jim went to call."

A few minutes later, Kayla and William came walking back with lunch with Kiwi and Bon Ami.

"I thought they would like to go for a walk," said Kayla.

Bon Ami settled in front of Eva immediately as lunch was passed out.

"So do any of us have plans for tonight?" asked Odd.

"Not really," said Yumi.

"Why?" asked Eva.

"I thought we would get the Pop Rock Progressives together and finish that song Eva's been meaning to finish with us," answered Odd.

"How did you know about that?" asked Eva.

"I told him," admitted Aelita. "I would love to hear it."

"Do we want Nicolas on drums or Kayla?" asked Eva.

"It's your song," said Kayla. "If you want Nicolas to drum, that's fine with me."

"I don't want to leave you out," said Eva.

"Don't worry about that," said Kayla. "Nicolas and I have two different styles. If his style suits your song, go ahead."

"The thing is I don't know who would sound better," said Eva.

Odd put a hand on Eva's shoulder. "We'll figure it out," he said with his mouth full.

* * *

><p>Later that night they gathered in the auditorium with their instruments. Nicolas was sitting behind the drum set for the first run of the song. Yumi had a piece of paper with Eva's lyrics. They ran through the music once before they tried singing it.<p>

_Here you go again_

_You're pushing us away_

_Telling us to get lost_

_It's not us, but you_

_Who cannot find your way_

_Now you're left out in the despairing frost_

_Don't be afraid to call out our names_

_Yell for us, we will come_

_Say 'save me' and we will_

_No matter what the outcome looks like_

_We will fight on still_

_Don't give up (hold on)_

_Never surrender (stay strong)_

_Powerful together_

_We will not relinquish_

_We'll carry on_

It was at that point in the song that someone's mobile rang. They all looked at each other. Kayla then took out her mobile, seeing that it was hers that was ringing.

"Hello?" she answered. There was a pause and Kayla's eyes widened. "What?"


	2. Introducing Alex X

**I am so sorry it is taking me so long to get these chapters up and that my stories are going up before the others are finished, but I am having problems posting new stories, so I post them when I am able to. Please be patient with me.**

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><p>The fire raged, the flames blue with their intensity. All life should have been incinerated, but there was movement amongst the flames. Rising from the fire was a bird, a flaming bird of blue and black fire. It spread its wings and screeched, growing in size. At its feet was a solitary figure. Like the bird, it was made of black and blue flames. It raised its head revealing a skull like face.<p>

Alex sat up screaming in his bed. After looking around his room, he flopped back down on his pillow.

Alexander Xanatos was eleven years old and sole heir to the Xanatos fortune. He lived like a prince, even in a stone castle that sat on top of one of the world's tallest skyscrapers. The castle had once sat on a cliff in Scotland. His father, David Xanatos, had it moved to Manhattan in 1994, before Alex was born. When he had done this, it awoke the gargoyles placed on top of it from a thousand year sleep. The gargoyles were very good friends to Alex's family, although Alex knew that it wasn't always like that. But it was in the past now. Alex was not a normal boy. His mother was a half-fey and that made him a quarter-fey. Though his mother could not access her powers, his Uncle Puck, a trickster, taught him well. Alex was mostly home schooled, but his parents thought it would be nice to send him to a normal school so Alex could have normal friends.

There was a knock at Alex's door.

"Alexander, is everything all right?" came Owen's voice. Owen was Alex's father's personal assistant and also his Uncle Puck. The fey was forced to remain in human form whenever he was not teaching Alex or protecting him.

"Yes," replied Alex.

Alex got out of bed and opened the door. Owen was staring down at him. Alex could've winced at the look he was receiving. Nothing escaped Owen's ice blue gaze.

"There is something wrong," said Owen.

"Bad dreams again," said Alex.

Owen, his expression usually neutral, frowned slightly. Alex knew he was very concerned about him. "Again?" asked Owen. "You've never mentioned bad dreams before, Alexander."

"I didn't think it was important," said Alex. "I thought they would go away."

"And they have not," said Owen.

Alex shook his head. "They're getting worse."

Owen looked at his watch. "It is soon time for your father and mother to be awake. Would you rather have your breakfast early or try to sleep again?"

"Breakfast," said Alex. He didn't want to see that skull face again.

"Breakfast it is," said Owen.

Alex got dressed. He pulled on a green shirt with a blue T-shirt over top. His pants were dark brown and his shoes were an even darker brown. It showed off his fiery red hair and blue-green eyes.

The sun was up so that meant the gargoyles were asleep. The smell of coffee was coming from the kitchen. Alex walked to the dining hall and sat at the long table. His father was already there.

David Xanatos looked nothing like his son. His hair was brown and his eyes were dark. His beard and mustache were neatly trimmed. He was wearing his business clothes; dark pants, black shirt, and dark gray jacket.

"You're up early," said Xanatos. "Couldn't sleep?"

Alex shook his head.

His mother, Fox Xanatos came in. Fox was a former celebrity, having been part of The Pack. She had long red hair, green eyes, a Pack tattoo over her right eye. She wore jeans and a red shirt.

"Good morning, little prince," she said, kissing Alex.

"Hi, Mom," said Alex.

"What's wrong?" asked Fox. "You're up early. You're never up early."

"I couldn't sleep," said Alex.

"Alexander says he was having bad dreams again," said Owen, entering the dining hall with coffee and breakfast for Alex.

"Bad dreams?" asked Fox. "Again? Why haven't you said anything, Alex?"

"Why?" asked Alex. "They're just dreams. They'll go away."

Xanatos said nothing. He pushed a pile of school pamphlets in Alex's direction. "These are some of the schools we are thinking about enrolling you in."

"Dad, do I have to?" whined Alex.

"David, he doesn't need to go to a fancy prep school," said Fox. She looked at the pamphlets. "David, some of these are for other countries. I didn't agree to them. He's not moving overseas!"

"It's just a thought," said Xanatos. "Let him choose."

Fox turned to Alex. "Sweetie, you don't have to go to any of them."

"Look at them first," said Xanatos, pushing a bit.

Alex conceded and flipped through the pamphlets. Some were local and some were for other countries, like Fox had said, but one stood out. Alex picked it up and began reading it instead of skimming.

It was for a school in France called Kadic Academy. It wasn't for rich kids or for smart ones. It was an average boarding school, nothing special about it. Nothing special that Alex could read, but there was something nagging at him.

Xanatos got his wife's attention and nodding in Alex's direction. "Find one you like, son?" he asked.

Alex looked up. He had an odd expression on his face. "I don't know. Mom wouldn't like it."

Fox looked over Alex's shoulder at the pamphlet. "Kadic Academy, eh? It's in France! No!"

Xanatos took the pamphlet from Alex. "There's an open house next week. We can go to France."

"He is not enrolling," said Fox.

"Let the boy live," said Xanatos. "If anything, it will be an educating experience for him."

Alex wasn't sure how well this would fly. He could speak other languages, but he was only fluent in Japanese and Spanish.

"What do you say? A trip of France?" Xanatos asked Alex. "If anything, it will get us out of the country for a few days."

Alex nodded. "Okay," he said.

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><p><strong>Yes, I told you a certain redhead is older now. I hope you're enjoying the story. Review!<strong>


	3. Party Planning

Odd was bent over his desk, his pencil flying across the paper. Ulrich was impressed. Odd was actually doing his work for a change. There was a snicker of triumph and Ulrich looked over at Odd. Had he written down the notes on the board? Ulrich groaned. No, Odd had not.

"What are you doing?" whispered Ulrich. "You're supposed to be copying notes."

"I'll get them from Eva," whispered Odd, not looking up. "Right now I need to finish this."

Ulrich looked at what Odd was doing. He was drawing, as always. He had been doing a lot of that recently. There was a stack of sketches on his desk in their dorm. So what had Odd been drawing this time? It was a phoenix, a blue and black phoenix. It had its wings spread and was ready to soar.

"I'm going to get this on a shirt and give it to Eva," said Odd. "Don't tell her. I want it to be a surprise."

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

As classes switched, they saw Eva with Jim. They were standing out on the soccer field. A lower grade was playing soccer for class. Eva was in a T-shirt and sweat pants, a clipboard in her hand. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

"She's amazing, isn't she?"

Odd and Ulrich jumped. Nicolas was standing behind them, watching Eva with a puppy dog look. There were rumors that Eva and Nicolas were going out.

"You have no idea," said Odd.

Nicolas looked at them. "Hey, I was thinking," he said.

"Thinking? Really?" asked Odd.

Nicolas glared. "Hey, I can think!" he said indignantly. He dropped his glare. "I want to do something for Eva to congratulate her for her success. I was thinking about a party. Could you help me out?"

Odd and Ulrich looked at each other. That sounded like a good idea.

"Okay," said Ulrich. "When?"

"After the open house," said Nicolas. "She'll be busy all day with it and she won't notice we're up to something."

Odd snorted. Eva not knowing they were up to something? She would have to be asleep or really hammered on cold medicine not to notice they were up to something. She noticed everything!

"If it's a party, we'll need cake and ice cream," said Odd.

Nicolas nodded. "I have enough money for a sheet cake," he said. "I can place the order, but I'll need some help getting it to school."

"We can have it in the cafeteria," said Ulrich. "We should let Jim know we're doing this. That way he can give Eva a ton of work to do and keep her distracted."

Nicolas agreed. "She notices a lot of things that others don't," he said.

"We'll tell the others," said Ulrich.

* * *

><p>"A party?" asked Yumi.<p>

Yumi, Jeremy, Aelita, Kayla, Odd, Ulrich, William, and Sissi were all gathered in Jeremy's room. It was a tight fit.

"It's Nicolas' idea," said Odd. "I think it will do her some good."

"Eva's not really the party sort," said Kayla. She looked at the calendar. "Especially not now."

"Why's that?" asked Jeremy.

"Mackenzie's birthday is coming up," said Kayla. "She's going to be more depressed than usual."

"Then it's perfect!" said Odd. "It'll take her mind off her sister."

"I'll have to clear this with my father," said Sissi. "But I don't see any problems with it. We can have it in the cafeteria."

"Isn't that a bit public?" asked Aelita. "Shouldn't we have it in some out of the way place?"

"We could have it in the auditorium," said William. "No one's in there now except for whoever's working on the play."

"And most of us have a part in the play," said Aelita.

They turned to her with confused looks.

Aelita blushed. "I wasn't going to say anything," she said. "I wanted it to be a surprise."

"What?" asked Jeremy.

Aelita's blushed deepened. "I got the role of Puck in the play."

"Really?" asked Kayla.

"That's great, Aelita!" said Jeremy.

"You are an elf princess, after all," said Odd.

"Really?" asked Sissi.

Odd nodded. "That's Aelita's form on LYOKO."

Aelita flinched and the others glared at Odd for bringing up LYOKO.

"Me and my big mouth," said Odd.

"No, it's okay," Aelita reassured. "I need to cope with it. LYOKO was a big part of most of our lives."

"So who else is in it?" asked Ulrich.

"Romain LeGoff, Claire Girard, Thomas Jolviet, Priscilla Blaise," Aelita ticked off her fingers.

"Maybe I should get a part," said Kayla.

Aelita shook her head. "Casting's finished. All the parts are taken. You could be an understudy."

"Or part of the stage crew," said Odd. "Like me."

"Providing music again, Odd?" asked Ulrich.

"Yes," replied Odd. "My guitar is at Eva and Nicolas' command. Along with my painting skills."

"So how do we want to do this?" asked Kayla. "Eva's going to know something's up."

"Yeah, we have to keep her distracted," said Jeremy.

"We can have her take us around the obstacle court before the open house starts," said Ulrich. "Sissi and Nicolas can bring the cake in while we're outside."

"That'll work," said William.

* * *

><p>Eva was busy getting ready for the open house. She wasn't sure what she was going to wear, what she was going to say or do, or where she was supposed to be. This was too much trouble for her. Let the kids roam around the school and let her keep an eye on them. They wouldn't know she was there. She was a phantasm after all, a shadow. No one really saw her unless she wanted to be seen.<p>

She needed to get away from the school. She pulled on her sweatshirt and ran out to the obstacle course and started running it. Her parkour was getting better, she noted. She no longer had to put much thought into her moves. They came naturally. It was a dramatic improvement over the past couple weeks. She wondered why that was, but pushed the thought out of her mind. She had other things to worry about than that.

Eva stopped and started to jog through the forest. She came to the Hermitage. Eva had only been there twice before. Once with Aelita and the second time with Kayla when her best friend carried her off to safety recover from a sudden splitting headache of unknown origins.

Eva rubbed her temples. The headaches were coming back again. They were nowhere near as intense as the first time, but they were still a pain. She didn't tell Kayla because she would worry.

Before she knew it, Eva went into the Hermitage and began looking around. She went up to Aelita's room and stood in the doorway. She could imagine how it looked like nine years ago, the day Aelita and Franz Hopper went to LYOKO, the day they had to run away.

"Quickly, Aelita."

Eva jumped at the voice and looked around. There was no one there. That was weird. Eva was the only one there and she knew it. She would be able to sense someone else in the building with her. There was no one else.

Eva walked back down to the living room. She could hear a piano playing, but there was no piano. At least, not anymore. There was a spot on the wall where a piano may have been.

A headache came on suddenly. Eva let out a cry of pain and fell to the floor. She curled up in a ball and howled. There was no one to hear her scream.

It finally stopped after a few minutes. Eva picked herself up and looked around. Everything was foggy and her head throbbed. She walked back up the stairs to the other bedroom, Franz's room. There was something here, somewhere, but Eva didn't know what.

"You hold all of the answers."

Eva remembered Franz saying that to her when she and Aelita fell into the digital sea. Why was she remembering this and why did it feel like she was actually hearing it?


	4. Open House

Alex was dreaming again. This time the dream was different. It wasn't a nightmare, but it wasn't a good dream either.

There was a pink angel sitting on a cliff. She was crying. The blue and black figure walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. The angel looked up at the skull face. She hugged the figure and the figure returned the embrace.

The alarm clock went off. Today was the day they were leaving for France. Alex was already packed and ready to leave. He said his good-byes to the gargoyles last night and promised to bring them something back from France with him.

It would be the four of them: Alex, his mother, his father, and Owen.

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><p>It would soon be the morning of the open house. Eva was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. It wasn't because she was stressed out, but because of the weird dream she had. It was a jumble of numbers and they couldn't get themselves sorted out. Eva had tried to find their proper places on the chalkboard, but nothing would stick and even less made sense.<p>

Eva got out of bed and got dressed in jeans, oversized T-shirt, and sweatshirt. She was going out for a run. So what if it was still dark? She needed something to do.

Eva dashed out the front gate and started to run out toward Yumi's house. She then turned and went off in Kayla's direction. Eventually after several loops, she came to the factory. Now the sun was coming up. Eva turned around and started back in another direction.

There was an expensive hotel on her route back. It was the only one in the town that was like that. She stopped and looked up at one of the windows. There was nothing there, nothing she could see, but she could sense something. Her sixth sense about danger was going off and Eva decided that it was time to leave and quickly. She sprinted away and didn't stop until after she got to the woods next to the school.

Odd and Ulrich were out of bed. They were standing at Eva's door, knocking.

"What's up?" she asked, coming down the hallway.

"We got you something," said Odd, beaming. He held out a blue tissue paper wrapped package with a black bow.

Eva took it and looked it over.

"Open it!" said Odd.

"Did you do something to this?" she asked. "You're not setting me up for a prank, are you?"

"Prank you?" asked Odd. "Never! Now, open it!"

"You better open it," said Ulrich. "He's on the verge of wetting his pants. Don't worry. It's nothing harmful."

Eva opened her door and stepped inside with Odd and Ulrich behind her. She opened the package and took out a tank top with a blue phoenix on the front.

"Oh, wow," said Eva. "Thanks, guys."

"It's my own design," said Odd. "I thought about doing a ghost, but then I thought, you're more of a phoenix. You've risen from defeat and blew away the competition."

"We were hoping you would wear it while you took us on our morning jog," said Ulrich.

"Jog?" asked Eva.

"Yeah, Jeremy needs to get in shape," said Ulrich. "We thought all us guys go and have Yumi join us."

"Now?" asked Eva. "Okay. Let me get changed."

Five minutes later, Eva was leading Odd, Jeremy, Ulrich, and William through the woods. Yumi met them halfway on the first path.

"Where's Kayla?" William asked Yumi. "I thought she would be with you."

"She's taking Bon Ami for a walk," replied Yumi. "She'll be here when we get back."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Nicolas, Sissi, and Aelita were carrying a sheet cake into the auditorium.<p>

"You drop it and I'm going to knock you out," said Sissi as she felt Nicolas' side slip.

"I'm not going to drop it," said Nicolas.

Aelita opened the door and they brought it in. They set the cake on the table they had set up earlier. The cake was half chocolate and half vanilla because no one could recall what Eva liked better. It was white icing with blue edges and black and blue roses. There was nothing written on the cake. They didn't know what to say.

"No words are needed," said Nicolas. "She'll know."

Plates, cups, snacks, and drinks were set up.

"Okay," said Aelita, looking around. "All we have to do now is wait for them to come back."

Kayla was the next to the party, Bon Ami at her side on his leash. The dog sat quietly as the others talked.

"Such a good boy," said Nicolas. He put his hand down to pet the dog.

Bon Ami licked his hand.

"He likes you," said Kayla.

Nicolas took a cheese curl from a snack bowl and offered it to Bon Ami.

"Good luck feeding him," said Kayla. "He doesn't take food from people he doesn't know. My dad can't even feed him."

But Bon Ami sniffed the cheese curl and took it from Nicolas.

"He really likes you," said Kayla, surprised.

"Oh, I need to run to my room and get Eva's present," said Nicolas. "I'll be right back."

Nicolas ran back to his room and grabbed the present he bought for Eva a few days ago. He hoped she liked it. He had asked the others what she liked because she wouldn't tell him. It was like pulling teeth with that girl, but Nicolas liked the challenge.

Nicolas looked at the front gate and saw prospective students and their families pulling up. Eva would be back any minute. He hurried to get his present to the party. Now all they had to do was wait for the end of the open house.

* * *

><p>Eva came back from her jog with the others. She noticed that Kayla brought Bon Ami with her. Hopefully the teachers would be too busy to notice the golden dog. Eva wouldn't have time to change clothes. She grabbed a jacket and pulled it over her phoenix shirt and hurried out the door.<p>

Jim was greeting people at the gate. He looked behind him and saw Eva. "There you are. I thought you forgot."

"Not about this," said Eva. "What do you need me to do?"

"Nothing really," said Jim. "Just keep an eye on things. You can do that without batting an eyelash."

"True," said Eva. "I'll see you later."

"Oh, Eva," said Jim. "I'm told that you're to go to the auditorium after the open house."

"Thank you, Jim," said Eva.

Eva was about to walk away when she felt danger approach her. She whirled around and stared at the street. Parents and children were walking her way. Eva's dark eyes quickly distinguished the threat. It was a family of four. Eva corrected herself, a family of three and a manservant. It only took a second for Eva's hyper vigilant personality to gather everything she needed about these four. She turned and calmly walked away.

Kayla was waiting for her with Bon Ami. She could see Eva was upset about something.

"What's wrong?" she asked as soon as Eva was close enough.

The others came over to her. They gathered around Eva. Bon Ami sat in front of his master.

Eva glanced behind her quickly. "Party of four," she whispered, everyone having to lean in to hear her. "Three family members and a manservant. Mother and son have red hair, father — brown, manservant — blue suit, blond hair, glasses."

"I see them," said Ulrich. "What about them?"

"Something's not right," said Eva. "I can feel it."

"Very funny, Eva," said Sissi.

Eva glared. "It's not a joke."

"It's something Eva's learned to do over the years," said Kayla. "She can look at someone and read them as easily as she could an open book."

"Friend or foe?" asked Yumi.

"Can't tell," said Eva. "I just know that they're dangerous. The blond especially."

Odd looked at the manservant as he followed the family. "Check out his left hand," he hissed.

They turned. The man's left hand was balled in a fist and it looked like it was made of stone.

"Whoa," said Ulrich.

"That's crazy," said Odd.

"You're telling me," said William. "He's got a style all his own."

"Something's way off with that guy," said Eva. "Something tells me that he is the most dangerous of them all."

* * *

><p>Alex walked beside his parents, Owen right behind him. Alex looked at the man greeting them at the gate. He seemed pleasant enough. Alex simply smiled as he passed. But what about the student he saw moments before? He was sure she was looking right at them, but it was only a brief second. Now she was talking to a group of students in hushed voices and they were glancing over at the Xanatoses, mostly at Owen and his stone hand.<p>

Owen had acquired that stone hand many years ago, before Alex was born. He had put it in the Cauldron of Life, an artifact that stated whoever bathed in it would live as long as the mountain stones. The legend had been quite literal. Alex had asked Owen many times if Puck could teach him a spell to return the left hand back to flesh and blood, but Puck said that the chances of that happening were very slim. But Alex was certain there was a way to fix Owen's stone hand.

Now the group was splitting up and Alex noticed a gold dog between them. It was sitting in front of the girl who was at the gate. The girl who was at the gate was very rough looking. She had choppy brown hair that hung in her face and clung to her brow. Her jeans were oversized and her jacket covered a black top with some sort of blue design.

Now splitting from the group was a girl with long blond hair in a teal top, blue tights, and black skirt and boots and a boy with black messy hair, a brown jacket, and dark jeans. Another couple, this one a tall Japanese girl and a dark haired boy who was shorter than her went in another direction. A girl with long black hair walked to the office. A boy with blond hair spiked to a point and a purple diamond in the middle dressed in purple skipped off to the trailer like buildings. And the final couple was a boy in a red sweater who reminded Alex greatly of Owen and a girl with pink hair. She looked very familiar. Alex remembered the pink angel.

* * *

><p>"<em>You know that dreams can be glimpses of the future in a twisted form," Uncle Puck told Alex last night. "Don't be surprised if you have a major case of deja vu tomorrow."<em>

"_Do you know what's going to happen?" asked Alex._

"_My boy, I am just a trickster. I can't predict the future," grinned Puck. "Although, with your recent dreams, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if something you dreamt about came true."_

"_I'm a bit worried about that," admitted Alex._

"_How so?" asked Puck, floating in front of his student._

"_I keep dreaming about a zombie, an angel, and a fire bird," said Alex._

"_A phoenix?" asked Puck._

_Alex nodded. "The phoenix only appears when the zombie does and the pink angel is always crying. It's so sad."_

"_A pink angel?" Puck laughed._

_Alex sulked. "I knew you'd laugh," he grumbled. "You don't believe me."_

"_I believe you," said Puck. "Just wasn't expecting the pink bit. Besides, Alex, you know I'm always laughing at something."_

"_Yeah, I know," said Alex. "I really don't want to meet the zombie."_

_Puck chuckled. "Never fear! Puck is here to protect you!"_

"_Thank you, Puck," said Alex._

"_Now get some sleep," said Puck. "You have a long day ahead of you."_

* * *

><p>"Alex, are you all right?" asked Xanatos.<p>

Alex shook his head. Xanatos frowned. "No, Daddy, I'm half left," he beamed.

Xanatos chuckled and shook his head. "Puck is rubbing off on you too much."

Alex saw Owen raise an eyebrow in his employers direction, but said nothing.

Alex thought about what was coming. They would tour the school and the grounds, meet with the teachers, and eat lunch in the lunchroom with some of the students. It shouldn't have been too bad.

Alex managed to slip away while his parents were speaking to the science teacher, Ms. Hertz. He wanted to see some of the students without his parents around. There was a Japanese boy about his age standing with another boy with brown hair plastered to his head and rosy cheeks.

"Hello," said Alex.

"Hi," they answered back.

Alex silently thanked Puck for teaching him that spell on being able to understand and speak French.

"Are you lost?" asked the Japanese boy.

"No," replied Alex. "I just wanted to look around for myself. Do you go to school here?"

"Yeah," replied the Japanese boy. "My name's Hiroki."

"I'm Johnny."

"Alex."

"Want the student tour, Alex?" asked Johnny.

"Sure," replied Alex.

The three boys toured the grounds. They pointed out the different buildings, the teachers, and the students. Hiroki and Johnny gave Alex a who's who of the school. It was then that an older boy, not one of the students, came around.

"Hey," he said.

"Hello," Hiroki said. "Care to join the tour?"

"Why would I want to hang around with a bunch of losers like you?" snapped the boy.

Alex could see that this could go south fast. He thought of what he could do. He wasn't allowed to use magic unless it was an emergency.

"Out of my way, pipsqueaks!" the older boy snapped, giving Johnny a push.

"Knock it off," said Hikori, getting into a fighting stance.

The older boy laughed and punched Hiroki. Hiroki's reflexes were fast enough to block, but the older boy had some power in that punch and Hiroki landed on his butt.

"Leave him alone," said Alex.

"Or what?" asked the older boy. "You'll cry for your mommy?" He laughed.

Alex felt his temper boil over and was about to quietly recite a spell, but someone beat him to the punch. The older boy was on his back so fast that he wasn't sure how he got there. All he knew what that the backs of his legs hurt.

The girl from the gate was standing over him. "Got something to say?" she asked in a raspy voice.

The older boy jumped up, ignoring the pain. "Go away. Don't you have some dolls to play with?"

The older boy's arm was twisted behind his back and the girl walked him over to a trash can. "Around here, I'm in control," she hissed in his ear. She then flipped him into the trash can so that his feet were kicking in the air.

"Who is that?" asked Alex. He turned to see Hiroki and Johnny beaming.

"That's Jim's adoptive daughter, Eva," said Johnny.

"She's not someone you want to mess with," said Hiroki.

"You okay?" Eva asked them.

"We're fine," said Hiroki.

"I have half a mind to tell your sister that you need some work in the martial arts department," said Eva to Hiroki.

"Please, don't," said Hiroki. "She'll never let me live it down."

"Fine," said Eva. "Just practice in your spare time."

Hiroki and Johnny quickly left, leaving Alex with Eva.

"Come on," she said, giving him a push. "Let's go before I get in trouble for fighting."

The two of them walked around the corner of the dorm building.

"I'm Alex."

"Eva."

"So, is that a common occurrence here?" asked Alex.

"The bullying? No," replied Eva. "I tend to keep things in line around here. Have to watch my step now that I'm a teacher assistant."

"Teacher assistant?" asked Alex. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen," replied Eva. "But I graduate this year. Right now I help tutor students."

"That's so cool!" said Alex. "You must be a genius."

"I'm no genius," said Eva.

Alex looked at her rough face. Her hair cast odd shadows on her skin, making it looked marred. Her eyes, dark brown, looked hollow.

The dog Alex saw with her earlier came running up to them, his leash trailing behind him.

"Hey, Bon Ami," said Eva, patting the dog's head.

"Is he your dog?" asked Alex.

"You can say that," said Eva. "He stays with my friend. We're not supposed to have pets on campus. The teachers haven't noticed him yet, but I doubt they'll say anything. Bon Ami is a bit of an escape artist. He comes by now and then. The younger students love him."

Eva picked up Bon Ami's leash. Alex smiled at the dog. Bon Ami looked at Alex and licked his hand.

"He's friendly," said Alex.

"At the moment he is," said Eva. "I doubt you have anything to fear from him. He adores children."

"MAVERICK!"

Eva looked in the direction of the track. "Sounds like Jim's calling me. Shall we see what he wants?"

Alex followed Eva to the track. Jim was waiting with a group of prospective students and their parents. Among them were Alex's parents and Owen.

"There's where you wandered off to," said Fox.

Bon Ami growled low, looking at Owen. He put his head down and poised to pounce, even going as far as baring his teeth.

"Eva, keep that mutt under control," barked Jim.

"Easy, Bon," muttered Eva. "I know."

It wasn't Eva's imagination. Bon Ami could sense that this man was dangerous. Bon Ami quieted down, but kept his eyes on Owen. Eva turned to Jim.

"There are some parents here who believe that their children are the fastest," said Jim. "They want to be on the track and field team when they come to this school. I said that the standards are high, considering there are some students already here who have broken the school records set in the past five years." Jim gave Eva a sly look. "Care to see if they're up to our standards?"

"Fifty or a hundred meters?" asked Eva.

"Fifty," replied Jim. "Show no mercy."

Eva smirked and removed her jacket, handing it to Jim. Bon Ami was commanded to sit and stay. She turned and walked to the starting line where several prospective students were ready to race. It was a simple fifty meter dash. This was too easy for Eva. Even after all that running she did early this morning, a quick dash was nothing. Eva got ready to race.

Jim fired the starting pistol and Eva was gone. None of the other contestants stood a chance. Eva was off like a shot.

It was then that Alex saw the design on Eva's shirt. It was a phoenix, a blue phoenix.

"It's her," whispered Alex.

* * *

><p>It was time for lunch. Eva and Alex went their separate ways. Eva sat with her friends and Alex sat with his family and the other families that brought their kids. Bon Ami waited outside the lunchroom with a large hamburger provided by Rosa.<p>

"Bon Ami doesn't like the man with Alex's family," said Eva. "He was ready to rip his face off."

"What about that guy's hand?" asked Odd.

Eva hesitated. "I think it really is stone," she said.

"That's impossible," said Jeremy.

"Possible or not, that guy gives me the creeps," shivered Yumi.

Eva winced, touching her temples.

Kayla looked at her friend in concern. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Are the headaches coming back?"

Eva nodded. "They've been back," she admitted.

"What? Why didn't you say anything?" asked Kayla.

"I didn't want any of you to worry," said Eva. "Especially you, Kayla. I'll admit, I haven't been sleeping well either. I keep having these strange dreams about a math problem I can't solve."

William let out a small chuckle. "You do tend to worry, Sunshine," he commented.

Kayla knew William was right. She tended to worry a lot, especially when it came to Eva. "When was your last headache?" asked Kayla.

"A couple days ago," Eva said. "I was at the Hermitage. I don't know why. I heard voices. Then I got a splitting headache, like the one I got when Odd's parents were here."

"I would think it's a XANA attack," said Ulrich.

"XANA's gone," said Jeremy. "It can't be it."

"But what if it did something to her when she fell into the digital sea?" asked Yumi.

Jeremy shook his head. "We spent the night trying to figure out if XANA had done something to her. Nothing came up on my scans."

"But didn't the next day she had her first headache?" asked Aelita.

"That's right," said Kayla. "You guys went to LYOKO and I took her to the Hermitage where she would be safe."

"Maybe you missed something," said Odd.

"Maybe," said Jeremy, putting a finger to his lips. "I don't see how I could. I mean, Eva's been back to LYOKO. I'm sure I would have found something."

"How bad is your headache right now?" asked Ulrich.

"Not bad," said Eva. "It feels like the time when that jerk hit me over the head with a bottle. It's not that I haven't been in chronic pain before. I'll live."

Jeremy sighed. "Maybe we should start the supercomputer back up, just so I can scan you for anything."

"If it was XANA, it would've stopped when Hopper fried him," bit Eva, making the others jump. "It keeps bugging me. He said that we have all of the answers. That makes no sense."

"Maybe he meant the multi-agent program," said Odd, stuffing his mouth full of mashed potatoes.

Kayla put a hand on Eva's shoulder. "It'll be okay," she said. She looked at Eva's almost untouched tray. "You should eat. I can tell that you've been up since early."

Eva picked up her fork and started on her green beans.


	5. Men In Black

"Alex, you've barely touched your food," said Fox. "Are you feeling well?"

"You haven't said a word since we came in here," said Xanatos. "What's bothering you?"

Alex looked at Owen. "It's her," he said. "That girl with the dark hair, Eva, it's her. She's the zombie I keep seeing in my dreams."

"What?" asked Xanatos.

They turned to Owen.

"You knew about this?" asked Xanatos. "Why didn't you say anything to me?"

"It was circumstantial," said Owen. "If I had concrete evidence, I would have come to you, sir. And Puck did not sense any danger toward Alexander."

Alex watched Eva get up and leave her half-tray of food behind. The boy in purple with the strange hair grabbed it and started eating.

* * *

><p>Eva went outside. Bon Ami was finished eating. He was sitting, watching whoever passed by. He heard Eva call his name softly and he stood up and began to walk beside her. They left the school grounds and went into the woods.<p>

"Seems I've been doing a lot of running today, Bon Ami," Eva said. "I'm just so restless. It's like I know something's about to happen."

Bon Ami snorted beside her and kept pace.

They soon found themselves at the Hermitage. The first thing Eva noticed was that the Hermitage was not deserted. There were people there, men dressed in black suits. They were going around the property, carelessly looking under plants. Inside, Eva could hear things being broken and smashed.

Bon Ami was on the alert. He and Eva hid behind a thick tree. Eva took out her mobile and dialed Jeremy's number.

"Hello?"

"Jeremy, I'm at the Hermitage," Eva said in a low voice. "There are men here. They're tearing the property apart. Men in black suits."

"What?" asked Jeremy, alarmed.

Eva could hear the rest of her friends growing quiet on the other end. "They're looking for something."

"Men in black, you say?" Jeremy said.

"Yeah," said Eva.

"Eva, get out of there, right now," said Jeremy. "We know who they are. Aelita had dealings with them before she went to LYOKO. They're the ones who took Aelita's mother away and the ones who were after Franz and Aelita. Get out of there!"

Eva was watching the backyard. "Hold on," she whispered. She moved, keeping low behind the bushes. One of the men called to the others. They gathered at a wall. "Jeremy, they just found the passage to the sewers."

"What?"

* * *

><p>In the lunchroom, the rest of the LYOKO warriors were gathered close around Jeremy, trying to hear what Eva was staying. Aelita was panicked.<p>

"If they find the supercomputer, they may start it up again," said Aelita.

"XANA's gone," said William. "What damage could they do with it?"

"Franz Hopper could create XANA, what are the chances that someone could create another XANA?" said Yumi. "Or worse, they can do what we did; go to LYOKO and create a Skid and destroy the network from the inside."

Jeremy paled. "Oh, no," he whispered.

"What now?" asked Ulrich.

"Eva, you have to stop them from finding the factory," said Jeremy frantically. "If they start up the supercomputer again, there's the possibility that they could revive XANA."

"What?" the LYOKO warriors cried, getting everyone in the lunchroom to look at them.

"You have to stop them," said Jeremy. "At least, stall them until I can get there."

"I can do that," said Eva. "If XANA can be revived, I'll do more than stall if you need me to."

"Just do what you have to," said Jeremy. "I'm on my way." Jeremy hung up his mobile and jumped out of his chair. "We have to get to the factory, all of us, right now!"

The others followed him out and started for the woods.

"Jeremy, what's going on?" asked Ulrich.

"Remember when I created the William clone?" asked Jeremy. "The program had to be ready as fast as it could and I used some of Franz Hopper's programs and notes to complete it, programs that made up XANA. It's why I foregone the upgrade that could have made it smarter. I didn't want to risk creating another XANA."

"So what's the trouble now?" asked Odd.

"I never deleted the program," said Jeremy. "I mean, I deactivated it, but I didn't delete it. It's still on the supercomputer."

"What were you thinking?" asked Yumi.

"I wasn't," said Jeremy.

They made it to the manhole.

"Nice one, Einstein," said Odd.

"I was more concerned about finishing the multi-agent program," said Jeremy. "And then the aftermath with Hopper and Eva's party, I forgot all about it."

They had taken their skateboards and scooters out of the sewer, thinking they would no longer need them. Now they had to go on foot.

"You know," said Kayla. "We could have a bigger problem than XANA coming back."

"What's that?" asked William.

"Well, remember how Jeremy said to Eva to do what she had to do?" said Kayla.

"Yes," panted Aelita.

Kayla gave a nervous laugh. "You opened the door to a whole new world of trouble."

"So she gives them a few bruises," said Odd. "How much damage could she do?"

Kayla laughed bitterly as did Aelita.

"I see what you mean," said Aelita.

The others caught on.

"If Eva's got the guts to face a XANA attack head on, like she did with that pack of possessed dogs, those guys getting a few bruises is the least of our worries," said Yumi.

William gaped. "You mean, she'll . . ."

Kayla nodded. "If she's backed far enough into a corner, there's a chance she could kill someone."

* * *

><p>Eva had been given her orders. She was to stop those men from finding the supercomputer. Jeremy said that she just had to stall them until he could get there. Whatever he needed to do was very important by the tone of his voice. Eva could almost see the fear in his eyes. She was going to stop them at whatever the cost.<p>

The men were startled by a snarling gold dog that bounded up to them.

"Sorry!" Eva came running up to them. "Sorry, he got away from me."

"What are you doing all the way out here in the woods?" asked one of the men.

"Oh, you know," said Eva casually. "Walking the dog, being one with nature."

Eva stopped there and kicked the man she was talking to in the stomach. Her next kick went right in his face. She twisted around, catching another in the chest, and a third in the face when she switched her kicking foot. Another was punched in the face.

Bon Ami had a fifth in a corner, snapping at his ankles. The man pulled out a gun. Eva knocked it out of his hand before slamming her foot into his stomach and using her hand to strike him across the face.

"Good boy," Eva praised Bon Ami, giving him a pat on the head. "Five down." She turned to the open passage door. "Two to go." She turned back to the five she just got out of a fight with. "But first I need to take care of you."

* * *

><p>The rest of the LYOKO warriors reached the ladder to the bridge that led to the factory. Ulrich popped his head up first. What he saw was trouble. There were several black cars parked at the gates of the factory.<p>

"Guys," said Ulrich, looking down at the others. "They're already here."

"What?" hissed Odd.

"This is a disaster!" said Jeremy, cradling his head in his hands. His mobile rang.

"Eva?" asked Kayla.

"Who else?" asked Jeremy, taking his mobile out of his pocket. "Hello?" he answered.

"Jeremy, these guys mean business," he heard Eva puff over the line. It sounded like she was moving something heavy. "They are packing."

"Packing? Packing what?" asked Jeremy.

"Guns, Belpois," replied Eva. "And these guys aren't fooling around."

Eva was in the Hermitage, finishing up tying and gagging the men and putting them in the boiler room. She closed the heavy sliding door and forced it shut by laying a broom handle in the track path. She had one of the guns in her waistband. Tilting her head to hold the mobile between her ear and her shoulder, Eva took out the gun and removed the magazine.

"Definitely not blanks," she said. "They have real bullets, Jeremy."

"Great," groaned Jeremy. "Now we have to worry about being shot."

The others gasped or winced.

"To top that off, I managed to take five of them down, but two made into the sewer," continued Eva. "Sorry."

"That's the least of our worries now," said Jeremy. "Ulrich says that they're parked at the gate. I'm not sure we can sneak across the bridge."

Eva let out an exasperated groan. "Well, you can't stay there. If the other two are headed your way, you're gonna get caught. Find the nearest manhole and get up it. You can walk the streets back to school."

"What about you?" asked Jeremy.

"These guys I have tied up aren't going anywhere anytime soon," said Eva. "I want to see what they were looking for."

"We'll come join you," said Jeremy. "Eight sets of eyes are better than one."

"Good, but make it quick," said Eva. "And don't take the sewers!"

Jeremy hung up. "Come on, guys," he said. "We have to move."

* * *

><p>Eva was in the Hermitage, looking for clues to what these guys were looking for. There was nothing she could find. Jeremy and the others had tossed the place when they first found it. And if there was something pertinent here that Hopper told Aelita, they would have had it by now.<p>

"Okay, Franz," said Eva. "Talk to me. Did you hide something here that you didn't tell Aelita about to protect her?"

There was no answer. Of course there wasn't going to be an answer.

Bon Ami whined.

"Yeah, I'm talking to myself," said Eva.

A headache came on, a big one. It hit so fast that Eva was on her knees and clutching her head before she knew what was going on. Bon Ami whined and barked, nudging at her. His master was in pain and he didn't know what was causing it.

It was at that time that Kayla and the others came. They heard Eva groaning loudly. Kayla rushed inside and found Eva on the floor in the living room.

"Eva," said Kayla, pulling Eva into her lap. "Eva, I'm here. It's okay. It's okay."

It was the numbers again. They were swimming in front of Eva's eyes. The chalkboards were blank. Eva tried to figure out where the numbers went, but they just kept floating off the chalkboard.

"Eva!"

The headache stopped. Eva put her head on Kayla's shoulder.

"What happened?" asked Yumi.

"Headache," croaked Eva, her throat feeling raw. "A really bad one."

William's eyes widened. "Eva, you're bleeding," he said.

"What?" asked Eva.

The others looked at her.

"Your nose is bleeding," said Kayla, reaching into her pocket for a tissue. "Here. Pinch and lean forward."

Eva did what she was told.

"Did you find anything?" asked Ulrich.

Eva shook her head.

"What do you think they were after?" asked Odd.

Aelita shrugged. "I don't know. I would have thought they would have found whatever they were looking for nine years ago, when they first came. Coming back now would be pointless, wouldn't it? This house has sat vacant. People have looted the place. Whatever it is could be long gone at this point."

"We've gotten lucky before," said Jeremy. "Remember the picture of you and your father?"

"Yes," said Aelita. "And Mr. Puck."

"We shouldn't stay here long," said Ulrich. "The others could come back looking for the men Eva took out."

Kayla helped Eva to her feet, Eva's shirt riding up.

Yumi's eyes widened. "What are you doing with that?" she cried, pointing at Eva's waistband.

Eva still had the gun she took from one of the men. The others stared in shock. Eva looked at the gun in her waistband and carefully removed it.

"Thought I would need it for later," she said.

"Well, you don't," said Odd. "We're kids, not gangsters."

Kayla took the gun in two fingers and set it aside. "You don't need it. Let's get you back to school."

Leaning on Kayla and William's shoulders, Eva and the others started back to school.

* * *

><p>The open house was winding down. Sissi and Nicolas were waiting in the auditorium for the others to come with Eva.<p>

Ulrich barged into the auditorium.

"Where's everyone else?" asked Sissi.

"Something happened to Eva," said Ulrich.

"What?" cried Nicolas. "Is she all right?"

"It concerns you-know-what," Ulrich said to Sissi.

"What?" asked Sissi. "I thought all of that was over."

"I thought so, too," said Ulrich. "But something happened and now there's a chance that it could start all over again."

"What's this have to do with Eva?" asked Sissi.

"I'm not sure, but she had a massive migraine and it took a lot out of her," said Ulrich. "William and Kayla helped her back to her room. But that's not the worst of it."

"Hey, don't leave me out," said Nicolas. "She's my girlfriend!"

Ulrich sighed. "I know," he said.

Nicolas was startled. "You do?"

"Yeah, there've been rumors going around about you two being more than just friends," said Ulrich. "Eva's silence proves it." He left out the part about Kayla finding Nicolas' love note and Eva's poem.

Sissi looked at Ulrich. "Shouldn't we tell him?"

"Yeah, we should," said Ulrich. "Give him the quick version. I need to go check on the others."

"Wait! What's the new problem?" asked Sissi.

"XANA might be making a comeback," said Ulrich. He hurried out the door.

* * *

><p>Eva's nosebleed had stopped by the time they made it back to school. Now everyone was crammed into her room. Eva was lying on her bed, having changed her shirt to her usual baggy black T-shirt, a cold cloth over her eyes. Kayla sat next to her.<p>

"What can we do now?" asked Odd.

"I don't know," said Jeremy.

"There has to be something," said Yumi. "We can't just sit here and let them revive XANA."

"I know that, Yumi," said Jeremy. "But I don't have a plan."

They all were quiet.

Ulrich came in. "Hey, I talked to Sissi," he said. "She's giving Nicolas the quick version of what we've been up to."

"Do you think that's a good idea?" asked Aelita.

"Nicolas will keep his mouth shut," said Eva.

"How do you know?" asked Odd.

"I know Nicolas," said Eva. "He'll keep his mouth shut."

"It's not going to make much of a difference anyway if XANA comes back and wipes us out," said Ulrich. "It's going to be furious with us."

William spoke up. "Not if we can get to the supercomputer before they can reactivate it."

"How?" asked Yumi.

"We create a diversion," said William.

"These guys have guns!" said Kayla.

"Even I'm not crazy enough to risk being shot at if I can avoid it," said Eva.

"We won't be the distraction," said William. "What if we call the police on them? Say we saw some men with guns acting shady? That should get the police's attention. It's not like these guys can tell them about the supercomputer. Even if they are government or something, the police should be able to stall them long enough so that we can get into the factory."

"That's a good idea," said Jeremy.

"It's not good, it's brilliant!" said Odd.

"One problem," said Yumi. "We can't all go. We'll get caught."

"Who has to go?" asked William.

"Just me," said Jeremy. "If I can wipe the programming, we should be in the clear as far as XANA."

"That just leaves them with finding the supercomputer," said Aelita. "My father created it and XANA. The people who funded it wanted it to be a weapon. If they get their hands on it, it could be a disaster."

"What do you suppose we do?" asked Ulrich. "Blow it up?"

Odd beamed. "That's a good idea." He turned to Kayla.

"There is no way I can come up with enough explosives to destroy every shred of evidence of the supercomputer," Kayla said when Odd opened his mouth.

"Let's focus on getting rid of the programs," said Eva, sitting up.

Kayla pushed her back down. "Stay down. We don't know what all that headache did to you. Save your strength. Who knows, you might need it later."

"Don't jinx it," said Eva.

* * *

><p>William, Jeremy, Ulrich, and Yumi put the plan into motion. The four of them would go to the factory and one of them would call the police on their way there. When the police would show up, they would go into the factory and turn on the supercomputer so Jeremy could erase the clone information and keep XANA from coming back.<p>

Ulrich poked his head up aboveground. The black cars were still there and the police were just pulling up with their sirens blaring. The four of them ran across the bridge and slid down the ropes.

"Not good," said Ulrich.

The elevator wasn't waiting where it always did. Someone had taken it down to a lower floor.

"We'll take the passageway," said Jeremy.

They went for the stairs.

They reached the ladder that led to the supercomputer room. Jeremy looked down. There was someone sitting in the chair, typing on the keyboard. Two other men in black suits were standing around.

"What should we do?" asked Yumi, who was looking over Jeremy's shoulder.

"Another distraction would be good right about now," said Jeremy.

The men heard something above them.

"Check it out," said the one at the keyboard. "I'll have everything we need here in a moment."

The two men climbed up the ladder and began searching for the source of the noise.

Yumi and Ulrich jumped out of the shadows and attacked. The two men went down easily.

The man at the keyboard was typing like nothing had happened. He didn't hear the two teenagers climb down the ladder. Yumi and Ulrich had him out of the chair and on the floor before the man knew what hit him. They dragged him into the elevator.

Jeremy and William climbed down, Jeremy taking the controls. He sent the elevator down and stopped it between the super calculator room and the scanner room.

"That should hold him for a while," said Jeremy. He began checking to see what had been done. He reached around the computer monitor and removed a 32 GB jump drive. "I don't know what they were after, but they won't get it now."

"So did they revive XANA?" asked Ulrich.

"Let me see," said Jeremy. "Oh, no!"

"What?" asked William.

"They were downloading software so they could make another XANA," said Jeremy. He held up the jump drive. "That's what's on this. We have to destroy this."

"Eva's great at making things disappear," said Yumi.

"Give it here," said Ulrich. He snatched the jump drive from Jeremy's hand. Ulrich threw it on the floor and stomped it with his heel. It broke into several pieces. "It'll take them some time to put it back together, but it's a start."

Jeremy continued to see what the man had done. "Guys, this is bad," said Jeremy, paling. "They did revive XANA."

"What?" said Yumi.

"Right now, it doesn't have much power," said Jeremy.

"Can it get out of LYOKO and onto the network?" asked Yumi.

"At the moment, it can't," said Jeremy. "But it can summon monsters. I don't know which ones and it can activate towers. I don't think it can get out of the network as things stand. It could try to get the keys to LYOKO again."

"And those are inside Aelita," said Ulrich.

"And Franz," added Jeremy. "XANA already has those."

"Is there any way to stop it from getting out?" asked William.

"I think I can create a program to stop XANA from being able to use the keys if it gets them," said Jeremy.

"Like changing the locks on a door," said William.

"Precisely," said Jeremy. "It'll take some time, but with XANA's current state, even a simple program should keep it from getting out."

"Why can't we just shut down the supercomputer?" asked Ulrich. "We can run a return to the past and shut it down again."

"But it won't stop these guys from coming back," said Jeremy. "We'll have the same problem all over again."

"I don't know how much time we have, Jeremy," said Ulrich.

"Just get me what you can," said Jeremy. "That's all I can ask for."

"Nothing else?" quipped William.

"A miracle would be nice," said Jeremy.

* * *

><p><strong>Things just keep going from bad to worse for the LYOKO warriors. Thank you for being patient. I know some of my stories are out of order and I will update the stories in order. Please review.<strong>


	6. Comeback

Eva was half asleep now. Kayla had removed the cold cloth from her eyes. Aelita was sitting at the desk and Odd brought the dogs down to visit. Sissi and Nicolas would soon be coming up and they knew that Nicolas would have a lot of questions. Bon Ami lay on the bed at Eva's feet and Kiwi was chewing on a chew toy.

There was a knock at the door.

"Eva, it's Sissi," came Sissi's voice. "I brought Nicolas with me."

Odd opened the door.

Eva and Nicolas looked at each other for a long moment before Nicolas came into the room. Sissi stood behind him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. He sounded hurt.

"I didn't know if I should," said Eva. "I didn't know if you could be trusted."

"You trusted Sissi," said Nicolas.

Eva closed her eyes. "I know," she said in a soft voice. "But we all agreed to let her in on our secret."

"We thought this was over," said Aelita. "We thought we could tell people now that the danger had passed. We were wrong. Now XANA may be back and everything we worked so hard to stop may start again."

"What exactly is XANA?" asked Nicolas.

"A demonic artificial intelligence bent on taking over the world," said Odd. "We've been trying to stop it for over a year now."

"And we thought we had," said Aelita.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Nicolas.

"I was wondering the same thing," said Sissi.

"I think we are all wondering that question," said Kayla.

Aelita's mobile rang. "Yes, Jeremy?" she answered.

"Aelita, XANA has been revived," said Jeremy. "It's not that powerful right now, but there's a chance it can get out into the network again."

"We have to stop it," said Aelita.

Everyone else was now alert.

"That's what I'm trying to do right now," said Jeremy. "I'm creating a program to render the keys to LYOKO useless."

"That should slow XANA down," said Aelita.

Eva frowned and got out of bed. Kayla looked at her and said nothing, listening to what she could of Aelita and Jeremy's conversation. Eva looked out the window.

"What about the men in black?" asked Aelita.

"Yumi and Ulrich incapacitated three of them," said Jeremy. "I shut down the elevator and I don't think they know about the corridor."

"Guys," said Eva, not turning from the window. "We have bigger problems."

"What?" asked Odd.

Kayla went over to the window. She gasped. Three black SUVs were parked at the front gate. Men dressed in black suits were getting out of the vehicles.

"They're here," breathed Kayla in terror.

"What?" cried Aelita.

Odd and the others rushed to the window.

"The wolves have come," muttered Eva.

Something about the way Eva said that made Aelita shiver. "Jeremy, they're here. They came to the school."

"What?" said Jeremy. "I'll work faster." He groaned. "I have a feeling that this is going to take more than a return to the past and some serious lying."

"They are government," said Eva.

They watched as one of the men flashed a badge at Jim.

"This is not good," said Odd.

"What should we do?" asked Sissi.

No one answered the question.

"Eva?" asked Sissi. "Odd? Anyone have any ideas of how we can get out of this?"

Odd chuckled. "You know, you've been in on the secret before we shut down LYOKO," he said. "Before, you would have told anyone to keep someone from getting hurt. What a turn around!"

Nicolas rested his hand on Eva's shoulder. "I know from some of the stories you told me that you've dealt with people like this before. How did you get out of it?"

"I ran away," said Eva. "I took what I needed and ran like a coward. This time that is not an option." She turned away from the window. "We do what we must. We protect the supercomputer, LYOKO, and, most importantly, Aelita."

"Why Aelita?" asked Sissi.

"Because Aelita knows things that they could use," said Odd. "She may not know all the secrets of LYOKO, but she has more than a basic understanding about how it works. She's valuable. She's Franz Hopper's daughter!"

"These people took my mother away," said Aelita. "They tried to take my father and me away, too, but we escaped to LYOKO."

"You could do it again," said Nicolas.

"If they turn the supercomputer off, it could be another nine years before someone turns it on," said Aelita.

"If anyone finds it at all," said Kayla.

"_Aelita?"_

They had forgotten that Jeremy was still on the phone with them. He heard everything they were saying.

"Yes, Jeremy, I'm still here," said Aelita.

"You have to get away," said Jeremy. "You're the only one who can deactivate the towers. If XANA makes a full comeback, we won't be able to do anything without you."

"I understand, Jeremy," said Aelita.

"Then get out of there," said Jeremy. "Hide. Something so they won't find you and take you away."

"Okay," said Aelita. She hung up her mobile and looked at the others.

"We're here for you, Princess," said Odd.

"I'm not going to let them take you, sister," said Eva.

"We'll do what we must," said Kayla, knowing that it could be more than she wanted to do.

"Thank you," said Aelita.

* * *

><p>Xanatos was the first to notice the black SUVs pulling up in front of the school. He saw the men get out. Xanatos knew government agents when he saw them. He wondered what they would be doing at a school like this.<p>

Xanatos got Fox's attention and nodded.

"I see them," she said, pulling Alex closer to her.

Alex was watching them, too. So was Owen. His uncle had a strange look in his eyes. Was Puck sensing danger?

Jim pointed to the main office and the men started to walk in that direction.

"I think we should leave," said Xanatos.

* * *

><p>The super scan went off.<p>

"Guys, XANA just activated a tower," Jeremy informed Yumi, Ulrich, and William.

"Perfect," muttered Ulrich. "We can't get Aelita here to deactivate it."

"Where?" asked Yumi.

"In the mountain sector," replied Jeremy.

"How far along are you with the program to stop XANA from getting out?" asked William.

"Not far enough," said Jeremy. "The program has so many holes in it that it will do nothing against XANA in its current state. I need more time."

"With XANA activating a tower, we don't have much time," said Ulrich.

"We have to get Aelita here somehow," said William.

* * *

><p>Back at the school, XANA sent its specters. It began possessing the government men.<p>

Owen and the Xanatoses were just about at the main gate when Owen turned around. There was danger. He had to get Alex away from here as quick as he could.

* * *

><p>Eva suddenly stiffened and listened carefully. She could hear it. XANA had activated a tower and was possessing people, she could hear it. Eva remembered the sound of a high pitched buzzing, like a television set being on from her first encounter with XANA when he possessed Jim and tried to kidnap Aelita.<p>

The others stopped in the hallway when they noticed Eva wasn't following them.

"What?" asked Kayla.

"XANA," replied Eva. She turned to Aelita. "It's coming for you, right now."

"Hide in my room," said Sissi, dashing a few doors down. "XANA doesn't know I'm helping you, right?"

"It knows you're not a LYOKO warrior," said Odd. "You should be safer than us."

"XANA wants us out of the way," said Kayla. "As long as you don't get in its way, it won't go out of its way to go after you, Sissi."

Aelita ducked into the Sissi's room and Sissi closed the door.

There was screaming outside. Odd ran to the stairs and looked over the railing. Tamiya and Milly appeared below.

"What's going on?" Odd called down to them.

Milly looked up. "There are men in suits! They are attacking everyone! They're shooting lightning from their hands!"

"What?" asked Odd.

"It's true!" cried Tamiya. She held up her camera. "I got it on tape!"

Odd ran back to the girls and Nicolas. "XANA's attacking! It's using those men in black to do its dirty work."

"Now we must get Aelita to the factory," said Kayla. She hurried back to Sissi's room. She opened the door. "Aelita, XANA's attacking."

Aelita was standing at the window. "I know," she said.

Kayla came over to her. It was a war zone outside. The XANAfied men were attacking anyone who moved.

The others came into the room and to the window.

"This is not good," said Odd.

"You're telling us," said Kayla.

"I have to get to the factory," said Aelita.

"How?" asked Nicolas. "These guys have the entire school surrounded."

"And they'll be coming after me," said Aelita. "If XANA catches me and gets the keys to LYOKO, it won't need me anymore. It will destroy me the first chance it gets."

"And without Franz to save you from the digital sea, you'll be lost forever," Odd said.

"If we can get to the boiler room, we can get to the sewers that way," said Kayla.

There was banging below them. The XANAfied men were on the first floor and making their way up to the second.

"Right now we have to hide," said Eva. "Come on!"

They followed Eva out of Sissi's room and bolted up the stairs to the third floor. Eva stopped in front of a storage room that was locked. She pulled out a hairpin and a piece of wire from her pocket and began picking the lock. She opened the door and ushered the others in. Eva closed the door just as two XANAfied men came into the hall.

The six of them climbed the ladder into the attic. Eva put her finger to her lips and silently made her way to the nearest window. The others joined her, being as quiet as they could.

* * *

><p>Owen was the first to notice that something was wrong. He did not have time to shout a warning when a man in a black suit struck him hard in the face, sending his glasses one way and his body another.<p>

"Owen!" cried Fox.

Fox tangled with the deranged man and was shocked for her troubles. Xanatos pulled the gun he kept under his jacket, but the man moved so quickly that he did not have the gun up to fire properly when it was kicked out of his hand and Xanatos was thrown into the side of a car.

"Alex, run!" cried Fox.

Alex ran, not knowing where to go or which way was safe. He ran back the way he came, hoping it would be safe. It was not. It was as if these men in black were possessed or enchanted. Alex ran for the closest building he could get to; the dorm building.

Alex whipped open a door on the first floor and ran down the stairs. He found that he was in the boiler room. This was where he was going to stay until Uncle Puck came for him or he came up with a plan.

* * *

><p>Aelita's mobile rang while they were hiding. All eyes went to her as she quickly answered it so they would not draw attention.<p>

"Jeremy, we're hiding in the dorm attic," she whispered. "XANA's taken control of the men in black suits. It's trying to find me."

"Who else is with you?" asked Jeremy.

"Eva, Kayla, Odd, Sissi, and Nicolas," replied Aelita.

"Is there any way you can get to the factory?" asked Jeremy.

Aelita looked at the others. "He wants to know if we can get to the factory."

"Not a way I want to take with you," said Eva. "We will if we have to, though."

"Eva thinks she may be able to get there," said Aelita. "But from her tone, it sounds risky."

"Okay," said Jeremy.

"How's the program coming along?" asked Aelita.

"It's coming," said Jeremy. "I'm trying to do the impossible here."

"Okay, I'll keep in touch," said Aelita.

Jeremy nodded. "As soon as you can, get here."

"I will, Jeremy," said Aelita. Aelita hung up.

"How are things?" asked Odd.

"He's doing what he can," said Aelita. "But I have to get to LYOKO."

"Easier said than done," hissed Sissi. "We're stuck in the attic! The boiler room is in the basement. It's not like we can just magically transport ourselves from one place to another."

Eva was not paying much attention to Sissi. She was busy inspecting the duct work. "Odd?" she said. "Didn't Ulrich and Yumi once use the ducts to get to the boiler room?"

"Yes, but they were on the first floor," said Odd.

"We can try," said Eva. She pulled open an air return vent. She guessed that there was enough room for a teenager to squeeze through. "It could be tight."

"I'll go first," Odd volunteered.

Eva stepped aside and Odd climbed into the vent. He disappeared and they could hear him moving around.

"Okay," he whispered harshly. "I'm on the boys' floor."

"Eva, go," said Kayla.

Eva nodded and followed Odd. She found that he was carefully making his way down. His legs were strong enough to keep from slipping the entire way down. It was almost a straight down drop.

"Girls' floor," Odd whispered.

Odd gave the vent grate a good kick and it opened. He pulled himself into a girl's bedroom. Eva followed. They listened and heard nothing. Eva and Odd helped Aelita and Kayla into the room. They were soon followed by Sissi, then Nicolas, who got stuck in the vent for a brief moment.

Kayla opened the door. "The coast is clear," she whispered.

The six of them hurried into the stairwell and looked down. There was no one. They ran downstairs and opened the door to the boiler room.

"Go, hurry," said Eva.

"Hey!"

They all jumped, Eva rushing ahead of them. Standing in the boiler room was Alex.

"What are you doing here?" asked Eva.

"I came in here to get away from those men," explained Alex. "What's going on?"

"Not now, boy," Eva all but growled. "We have business to attend to."

They went for the door that led to the passage to the sewers.

"We are going to have to do a mad dash to get to the factory," said Eva.

"More running," grumbled Kayla.

"Don't complain," said Eva. "It'll be worse for all of us if we don't get there."

"I'm coming, too," said Alex. "I don't want to sit here and wait for them to find me."

"Okay," said Odd. "You can come. But you'll have to stay out of the way."

"Let's go," said Eva.

"I almost got it," said Jeremy.

"You do?" asked Yumi.

Jeremy nodded. "Now I just need a way to get it into LYOKO's programming. For that I need Aelita."

There was a crash above them. They all looked up at the ladder.

"I did not like the sound of that," said William.

Ulrich grunted an agreement.

Jeremy called Aelita. "Aelita, where are you?"

"In the sewer," replied Aelita. "We're almost at the factory."

"The elevator's out," said Jeremy. "You'll have to use the corridor, but I think we have trouble in there. Who else is with you?"

"Everyone and then some," said Aelita. "We picked up a boy who was hiding. Sissi and Nicolas are with us, too."

"The program is just about ready," said Jeremy. "Hurry."

"Okay, I'll see you soon," said Aelita.

Jeremy hung up. "I hope to see you soon, Aelita," he muttered.

The others popped up the manhole and ran across the bridge. They were met by several XANAfied men in black. Eva and Odd got ready to fight, but Alex dashed ahead of them.

"Kid, no!" called Odd.

Alex stopped short of the possessed men and held out his hands. "Sleep!" he commanded. His eyes flashed green and green light emitted from his hands. The men dropped like stones, sound asleep.

The others stared at him.

"How did you do that?" asked Kayla.

Alex winced. "Promise you won't tell?" he asked.

"You keep our secret and we'll keep yours," promised Odd.

"I have magic," said Alex. "I'm not allowed to use it unless in an emergency."

"I think this qualifies," said Odd.

"Jeremy needs us," said Aelita. "He says we have to take the corridor."

They ran inside.

* * *

><p>The two men that Ulrich and Yumi knocked unconscious in the corridor were no longer unconscious. XANA had XANAfied them and they were attacking Ulrich, Yumi, and William. One of them had Ulrich by the throat and against the wall.<p>

There was a flash of green light and the two XANAfied men fell to the ground. Floating in the air was a redheaded boy.

"What the heck?" asked William.

"Meet Alex," said Odd, climbing down the ladder. "Our own magician."

"Actually," said Alex, landing on the floor, "I'm part elf."

"Really?" asked Aelita, following Odd. "That's cool."

Alex looked around. "What is this place?"

"Welcome to the supercomputer," said Kayla. "Home of a demonic artificial intelligence that we thought to have had destroyed."

Odd turned to her with an indignant look. "Hey, don't copy me!" he said.

"It's almost impossible to copy you, Odd," quipped Ulrich.

Aelita came over to the console where Jeremy was working. "How far are you?" she asked.

"Right now, it can be put into effect," said Jeremy. "The only problem is you would need to go to different towers in different sectors to fully activate it and then to go to Sector Five and use the interface there."

"It's a lot of work," said Kayla.

"There's no other way," said Jeremy. "If I had time, I could make so only the Sector Five interface would be needed to activate it."

"It's going to take all of us," said Yumi. She turned to William. "That means you, too."

Eva gave William a dark look. "Don't get cocky and get yourself caught again, Dunbar," she warned.

"I won't," said William. "I'll be careful."

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Ulrich.

"Stop fighting," said Aelita. "It won't help us."

"She's right," said Sissi. She looked at Jeremy. "What can we do?"

Jeremy hesitated before speaking. "This is my plan: you'll go in teams of two. Each team will be responsible for clearing a path for Aelita to get to the tower. After that, I'll transport everyone to Sector Five."

"Just one problem with that, Jeremy," said Odd. "I know I'm not good at math, but there are seven LYOKO warriors and four sectors. Without counting Aelita, there are only three teams of two."

"One of us can go," said Nicolas.

"No way," said Yumi. "Not with what happened the last time with a greenhorn."

William scowled. "Are you going to keep that over my head?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"I'll go," Alex spoke up.

They turned to him.

"You?" asked Kayla. "You know nothing about LYOKO."

"None of us did when we first started," defended Odd.

Eva looked down her nose at Alex. "What makes you think you're cut out to be a LYOKO warrior?"

"Well, other than my magic, I practice martial arts, I am farther ahead in my schooling than other kids my age, and I know how to follow directions," said Alex.

"You have to admit, he has the quick thinking and reflexes down," said Sissi. "You saw what he did to those possessed goons. I know if I go, I'll probably cause more trouble. The same with Nicolas."

Nicolas nodded sheepishly.

"Chances are, though, you won't have your magic there," said Jeremy.

"I can do without," Alex said.

The LYOKO warriors gathered around Alex.

"Alex, what's your full name?" asked Yumi.

"Alexander Xanatos," he replied.

Jeremy stood in front of Alex. "Alexander Xanatos, do you solemnly swear to keep our secret, to fight on the side of good, and to defend the world to the best of your ability against XANA?"

"I swear," promised Alex.

Jeremy returned to the console. "Once Aelita puts in the information at the first tower, XANA will probably catch on to what we are doing and try to stop us. The first team will be Odd and Aelita. You'll start in the ice sector."

They began to climb down the ladder. Sissi and Nicolas stayed with Jeremy.

"The activated tower is in the mountain sector," said Jeremy. "Aelita and Odd will go to the ice sector and start implementing the program. Ulrich and Yumi will go to the mountain sector and destroy the monsters guarding the activated tower. Once Aelita gets to the other towers and implements the program, she can deactivate the tower."

"Do you think that's such a good idea, Einstein?" called Odd. "Seems like there could be a chance that XANA's minions can do more harm to the school."

"We can check it out," said Sissi.

"We can?" asked Nicolas.

Sissi smacked Nicolas' arm. "Yes, we can."

Jeremy turned around. "You two check out what's going on back at school. Look only. Don't go on the school grounds if you can help it. We don't want you to get caught."

"Sure," said Sissi. "Let's go, Nicolas."

Jeremy turned his attention to virtualizing the others. "Aelita and Odd to the ice sector, Yumi and Ulrich to the mountain sector, William and Kayla to the forest sector, and Eva and Alex to the desert sector. Once Aelita inputs the program, rendezvous at the edge of the sector so you can catch the transport."

Aelita and Odd got into the scanners.

"Transfer Aelita. Transfer Odd. Scanner Aelita. Scanner Odd. Virtualization!" said Jeremy. "Ulrich and Yumi, you're next."

Ulrich and Yumi went to the mountain sector.

Kayla and William got into the scanners and were sent to the forest sector.

Eva started for the scanner. Alex grabbed her arm.

"Is this going to hurt?" he asked.

"No," replied Eva.

"Okay, you two," said Jeremy. "You're off to the desert."

Eva and Alex stepped into the scanners. The doors closed.

"Transfer Eva. Transfer Alex. Scanner Eva. Scanner Alex. Virtualization!"

Alex found himself hurtling through a strange tunnel.

Eva and Alex appeared in the desert sector. Alex landed on his face, just like everyone else had done on their first trip.

"Get up," Eva barked.

Alex got to his feet and looked at Eva. He let out a yell and jumped back. It was her! She was the zombie in his dream. Her face was painted like a skull, her hair was black, the forelocks dark blue, she wore a blue and black suit with black armor, her shoulder pads looking like skulls, black diamonds on her knuckles. On her chest was a Moline cross medallion with a red gem in the center.

Eva hummed. "You don't look so bad yourself," she commented.

Alex looked at himself. He was wearing a jade green body suit with dark green gloves that came to his shoulders and knee high boots in the same color. He wore a green belt, had a copper colored triangle on his chest with an orange center, lines of copper extending form the corners of the triangle to both shoulders and to his waist, a copper collar, small shoulder pads, one with his father's X logo on the right and a copper A on the other. He wore green cuffs on his wrists and had them where his boots started. A green line ran from his wrist to his shoulder, down his side to the cuff on his leg on both sides. He had extra appendages at sprouting from his shoulder blades that stuck out to his sides, as long as his arms. His ears were pointed like Aelita's and he had a pair of green goggles on his head.

The extra appendages reminded Alex of Lexington's wings. Was it possible he could glide here? But he didn't have membranes for wings.

"Which towers, Jeremy?" asked Eva.

"The tower to the west is the way tower," said Jeremy. "Aelita will be coming from the north. You two have the second stop. Make sure she has a path to the way tower."

"Way tower?" asked Alex.

"Here's the basic rundown for the towers," said Eva. "All towers are linked together, you can travel LYOKO using them, but only certain towers, way towers, lead to different sectors. The tower Aelita will be coming from will connect the desert and ice sectors. The one she has to get to connects the desert and forest sectors. Way towers, because they link sectors, are ideal for setting up programs in LYOKO."

"Okay," said Alex. He was quiet for a moment. "I guess it was good thinking that Jeremy put me on the second stop."

"He put you with me because it would be less likely to encounter monsters and he knows that I can take care of both you and myself," Eva said coldly. "You don't have to fight unless you have to. Once Aelita passes through our sector, it won't matter if the monsters devirtualize you."

Alex frowned. "Kinda cold, aren't we?" he sniped.

"You don't know what your abilities are," said Eva. "Simple as that."

Cold she may be, but Eva knew that LYOKO was dangerous. She knew that if this little boy got too cocky, XANA could have new prey. Eva was not about to let that happen.


	7. Mission Improbable

Aelita and Odd were running to the way tower in the ice sector. They met no resistance as they ran across the narrow ice bridge.

"You know, we should ask Alex what's up with that guy that hangs with him," said Odd.

"A little forward, don't you think?" asked Aelita.

"You aren't the least bit curious?" asked Odd. "Hey, Jeremy! Can you ask Alex about the guy with the stone hand?"

"Let's focus on keeping XANA from escaping LYOKO," said Jeremy. "Alex is probably bombarding Eva with questions right now."

"More likely Eva's giving him a lecture," said Odd. "She can be brutal!"

"That's understandable," said Aelita. "Alex would not have been her first choice for a partner. We barely know him. We don't know if he'll keep our secret. It's better than having Sissi or Nicolas with us though."

Odd nodded his head sideways, the universal you-have-a-point gesture.

They reached the first tower and Aelita went inside. Aelita went to the top of the tower and began setting up the interface to use the program. She moved a few windows around and started the program.

Odd waited outside. "Nothing, Jeremy," he said. "It's all quiet."

"For now," said Jeremy. "Once XANA figures out what we're up to, it's bound to come after us."

"What about the guys Alex put to sleep?" asked Odd.

Jeremy looked at the two men. "Still asleep. I don't think they'll be waking up for some time."

"Jeremy, the program is finished loading in this tower," said Aelita. "Everything appears to be functional."

"Okay," said Jeremy. "Everything looks good on my end. Head for the next sector. Odd, I'm sending you your overboard. Head for the edge of the sector."

"You got it," said Odd. The overboard appeared next to him. He jumped on it and sped off for the edge of the ice sector.

Aelita traveled to the desert sector. She met up with Eva and Alex midway.

"Any trouble?" she asked as they joined her.

"None," said Eva, easily keeping stride.

"That's good," said Aelita.

Alex was watching Aelita as he ran. "Wow, you look pretty," he commented. "You look like a fey. My Uncle Puck would be impressed."

"Puck?" asked Aelita. "I named my elf doll my father gave me for Christmas Mr. Puck."

Alex laughed. "Puck would be flattered."

Aelita noticed that Eva had her white eyes narrowed in a glare toward Alex. "Lighten up, Eva."

Alex turned to Eva, seeing her glare. He winced and said no more.

Ahead, the way tower in sight, was a crab.

"What is that?" asked Alex.

"A crab," replied Eva.

"One crab? XANA must be weaker than we thought," said Aelita.

"It may be saving up for the tower it activated," said Eva. She dashed ahead.

Aelita took Alex by the shoulder and stopped. "Watch Eva."

Alex nodded and watched what Eva was doing.

Eva broke right and dodged the laser fire of the crab. With a leap, Eva flipped over the crab, firing a power pulse in the weak spot. The crab staggered and exploded. Eva landed and tumbled, getting to her feet. She turned around. After looking for any more monsters, she waved Aelita and Alex forward.

"That was cool!" said Alex.

Aelita went into the tower.

"Now what?" asked Alex.

"We wait until she leaves," said Eva. "Then we go to the edge of the sector."

"Excuse me, Alex?" came Jeremy's voice.

"Yes?" answered Alex.

"Inquiring minds were wondering, what's with the man with the stone hand?" asked Jeremy.

"Not exactly the time," said Eva.

"It's going to take Aelita a few minutes to get the program running," said Jeremy. "There's time."

"My Uncle Owen is really my Uncle Puck," said Alex. "It's his human form. He has to be in his human form when he isn't teaching me. Anyway, Owen stuck his hand into something called the Cauldron of Life. It turned his hand to stone. I've been asking him for years to teach me an incantation to reverse the effects, but he says that the chances of being able to reverse the effects are slim."

Now Alex had Eva's attention.

"You lead an interesting life, Alex," she said. "Tell me, is there something special about these incantations?"

Alex thought for a moment. "Any words work. You just have to concentrate your magic on it."

Eva hummed and looked away, her black lips pressed together in thought.

Aelita ran the program and went to the forest sector.

"Okay," said Jeremy to Eva and Alex. "Aelita just left. I'm sending your overboard, Eva."

The overboard appeared next to Eva. She did a no-hands cartwheel onto the overboard. "Come on," she said to Alex.

Alex looked at the overboard cautiously before hopping on behind Eva. He hesitantly gripped Eva around the waist.

"Just like that," said Eva. "Hold on."

Eva opened the throttle and they were off.

"Can you tell me something?" asked Alex. "What's under the land?"

"The digital sea," replied Eva. "You don't want to fall into that. You'll be lost forever."

"Oh." Alex gripped Eva around the waist a little tighter as she flew over the gaps in the terrain.

Kayla and William were waiting for Aelita. They ran beside her, weapons at the ready.

"There was only one crab in the desert sector," Aelita informed them. "And there were no monsters in the ice sector. Odd, Eva, and Alex are already headed for the edges of the sectors."

Kayla let out a small groan. "I have a feeling that there is going to be more trouble for us."

William grinned. "We can take it!"

"Kayla, William, there are hornets guarding the tower," said Jeremy. "Be careful."

"Hornets? Great," said Kayla. "Not exactly our monsters of choice with our weapons."

"We can do it," said William.

Kayla nodded.

The tower came into view along with the three hornets that were guarding it. The hornets dive-bombed them. Kayla blocked lasers with her mace and William used his sword as a shield, defending both himself and Aelita. Aelita fired an energy field and struck one hornet. It exploded and the other two disappeared into the trees.

"Go," said William to Aelita.

Aelita ran forward, Kayla close behind, William running backwards, looking for the hornets.

"Kayla, nine o'clock!" called Jeremy.

Kayla turned to her left and saw the hornets coming back. She turned her mace into her morning star and swung. The gold cord extended and smashed one hornet. The remaining hornet shot Kayla in the leg and she stumbled.

"Kayla!" called William. Something clicked in William's brain; a memory. "Super smoke!"

William turned into white smoke and ran along the ground. The smoke ascended and William reformed in midair, swinging his sword and cleaving the final hornet in half. He landed with the ease of a seasoned LYOKO warrior.

Kayla stared at him, Aelita having already entered the tower. "How did you do that?" she asked.

William rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not sure."

Kayla approached him. "You did that when you were under XANA's control."

"Really?" asked William. "It's a cool power."

Kayla nodded in agreement.

"I'm sending you your vehicles," said Jeremy. "Aelita's on her way to the mountain sector. I have the over-glider for Kayla and something new for William."

"You have a vehicle for William?" asked Kayla.

"It's a prototype of the over-bike," said Jeremy. "It works, but it just didn't fit Ulrich's style. I'm sending it for William. I hope you like motorcycles."

Kayla's glider appeared as did a motorcycle for William. The large motorcycle was white with a black seat, running boards, and shield, a slot cut away like Ulrich's over-bike. The tires were large and wide, the axles unconventionally shaped like T's. The motorcycle had accents of deep red on the front and back, a silver band in the middle edged in green, and with green in the back as well.

"I give you the over-cycle," said Jeremy.

"Awesome," said William. His sword vanished in a puff of smoke and he mounted the over-cycle.

* * *

><p>Sissi and Nicolas reached the school. They only took the sewers back a few blocks before dashing through back alleys and side streets. The entire street to the front gate of the school was blocked off. Rescue units and police in riot gear were doing whatever they could. Parents were forced to stay behind the barricades.<p>

"It looks like a war zone," said Nicolas.

"Come on," said Sissi. "Let's see if we can find my father."

In the chaos of everything, Nicolas and Sissi managed to slip passed a police officer. Things were bad. A lot of people had burns or broken bones.

"Elisabeth!"

Sissi turned. "Daddy!"

Mr. Delmas ran to his daughter. "Where have you been?" he asked, giving her a hug. "I've been looking all over for you."

"A bunch of us got out through the woods," said Sissi. "We're okay."

Mr. Delmas looked at Nicolas. "Is there anyone else with you two?"

"No," said Sissi. "They're all hiding."

"We got out together, but then we got separated," said Nicolas.

"Who all made it out?" asked Mr. Delmas.

"Ulrich Stern, Jeremy Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, Aelita Stones, Yumi Ishiyama, Eva Maverick, Kayla Olson, William Dunbar, and one of the visiting kids, Alex Xanatos."

"Alex Xanatos?"

They turned to see a woman with long red hair and a tattoo over her right eye.

"You've seen my Alex?" asked Fox.

"Yeah," said Nicolas. "He's okay. He made it out before things got too bad."

"Where is he?" asked Fox.

"Right now, we're not sure," said Sissi.

"At least his father and uncle will be relieved to hear he's okay," said Fox, letting out a sigh.

"What's going on?" asked Nicolas.

"I'm not sure," said Mr. Delmas. "Those men came in and began attacking everyone like they were superhuman. Right now, the police have the school surrounded. They won't be able to escape. But there are students and faculty members still trapped."

"What? Who?" asked Sissi.

"Jim, for starters," replied Mr. Delmas somberly. "I know he is hurt. He was trying to get some of the other students out."

A police officer got Mr. Delmas' attention. Sissi and Nicolas took the opportunity to slip away. Sissi called Jeremy.

"Jeremy, things are bad," she said. "The police are here, people are hurt, and some are still trapped on school grounds."

"Ulrich and Yumi are doing what they can to clear a path for Aelita to get to the way tower," said Jeremy. "XANA has the way tower and the activated tower guarded heavily. The others are already heading for the edge of the sectors so I can transport them."

"Jeremy, something has to be done now," snapped Sissi. "Someone could die!" There was no reply from Jeremy. "Listen, Belpois. Jim is trapped with those possessed goons and he's hurt from what my father tells me. I don't know how bad, but Eva just got a family. I don't want her to lose another."

Jeremy stiffened in his seat. He didn't want anything to happen to Jim. After all, Jim had helped them many times in the past though he did not remember it.

"Jeremy," Eva's voice came.

"Yes?" said Jeremy.

"I have a feeling things continue to go down hill," said Eva.

Jeremy swallowed. "They are," he said. "Jim's hurt."

Eva stiffened. "How bad?" she asked.

"Sissi says it's bad," replied Jeremy. "He's still in there with XANA."

Alex looked at Eva questioningly as she stopped her overboard. Her white eyes were empty and her face was hard.

_Jim's hurt? No, I'm not losing another family member again. I already lost one. There has to be something that can be done._

The words were in Eva's voice, but they were frantic. She was worried. No, she was scared. She would not show it on the outside, perhaps because she was putting on a tough front for Alex.

Jeremy noticed something happening on Alex's stat window. Jeremy had seen this before, but he was not expecting it in one who had just learned about LYOKO and hadn't been in a fight with monsters yet. It was a special ability icon. Alex had a special ability and it was just coming online.

"It will be okay," said Alex. "I'm sure something can be done. You won't lose your family again."

Eva whipped around so fast that she tipped the overboard and they both fell to the ground. Thankfully they were not that high above the terrain.

"What did you say?" snapped Eva. She grabbed Alex by the front of his body suit and hoisted him so that his toes were just brushing the ground.

"I said it will be okay," said Alex. "I heard what you said, about you losing another family member."

"I never said a word," snarled Eva.

"Eva, put him down!" yelled Jeremy. "It's his power. A special ability just kicked in for Alex. Like your invisibility or Ulrich's super sprint! Alex is telepathic! He can hear your thoughts."

Eva let go. Alex dropped to the ground. Eva still looked like she was ready to hit him. It was impossible to read Eva's face, but Alex had his telepathy now and could hear some of her thoughts. Some being the word because Eva was thinking of so many things at once, Alex couldn't keep track of them.

"Jeremy," said Eva in a low voice. "Is it possible to energize me?"

Jeremy frowned. "Energize you? What for?" he asked. "We don't have the Skid to do it and you aren't in a replica."

"I know that," said Eva. "But is it possible to energize me so I can go to the school and help out there? If you can do it with the others in replicas and they show up near the supercomputer they are targeting, why can't you do the same for me on LYOKO?"

Jeremy stared at the screen for a long moment. "Eva, that's brilliant! I would have never thought of that."

"Alex can go the rest of the way to the edge of the sector without me, I'm sure," said Eva, glancing at the redhead. "Kayla will look after him, so I have no worries there. I'll stall XANA in the real world for as long as I can."

"Okay," said Jeremy. "Give me a few minutes. Head for the nearest tower. Alex, you keep on going for the edge of the sector. I'll tell you where you need to go."

Alex looked at Eva's overboard with concern. Eva made it look so easy, but Alex could tell that it was not as easy as it appeared to be. An idea occurred to him.

"What are you doing?" asked Eva.

Alex propelled himself into the air using the overboard as a springboard, pulling down his goggles as he jumped. Green light formed wings like a flying squirrel and Alex glided into the sky.

Eva's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "The kid has some moves," she admitted. She got on her overboard and flew off in the direction of the nearest tower.

* * *

><p>"This is bad," said Ulrich, hiding behind a rock in the mountain sector.<p>

Yumi was not far from him, hiding behind a rock of her own, Aelita cowering beside her. Their opponents were five very angry crabs. They were currently trying to get Aelita into the activated tower.

"Change of plans," said Jeremy. "Go for the way tower."

"What about XANA's attack?" asked Yumi.

"Eva's going to take care of it," said Jeremy. "How, I'm not entirely sure, but she's going to try to stall. Get to the way tower and then to the edge of the sector."

"Okay, Jeremy," said Yumi. She turned to Aelita. "Ready to go?"

Aelita nodded.

Yumi jumped up from behind her rock and threw her fan. Aelita ran in the direction of the way tower, away from the activated tower. Yumi's fan returned to her after striking a crab and only wounding it and she followed Aelita. Ulrich brought up the rear, running backwards and deflecting laser shots with his sabers until they were out of range.

* * *

><p>Odd reached the edge of the ice sector. "Okay, Jeremy, I'm here."<p>

"I see you, Odd," said Jeremy. "I'm entering the code Scipio." Jeremy hit the enter key and the transport window popped up on screen.

The transport appeared in front of Odd and scooped him up, sending him across the sector to Sector Five.

* * *

><p>Kayla and William were almost to the edge of the forest sector. Kayla knocked a hornet or two out of the air while they were on their way. They pulled up to the edge of terrain.<p>

"We're here!" called Kayla.

"Here's the transport," said Jeremy, inputting the code again.

The transport came and sent Kayla and William to Sector Five.

* * *

><p>Eva was inside the tower Jeremy had directed her to. She stood in the middle and waited.<p>

"Odd, Kayla, and William are already in Sector Five," Jeremy informed her. "Alex is almost at the edge of the desert sector and Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich are on their way to the way tower in the mountain sector. XANA has the activated tower too heavily guarded."

Eva grunted in understanding to let Jeremy know she listened.

Jeremy typed on his keyboard, reconfiguring the program the others used for the replica. "I'm not sure how this is going to work," he told her. "I don't know if you'll appear in the scanners or if you'll be somewhere near the factory. I'll be in contact with you like I would on LYOKO. It will be like LYOKO except you may not have your abilities."

"Understood," said Eva.

Jeremy nodded. "Here we go." He hit the enter key.

Eva was energized. She opened her eyes to see that she was in the factory, by the assembly line.

"Eva?"

"It's okay, Jeremy," said Eva. "I made it. I'm in the factory."

"Get to the school," said Jeremy. "I'll let Sissi and Nicolas know you're coming."

Eva began running for the door. The first thing she checked was to see if her invisibility power was working. It was. She was able to slip by the rest of the XANAfied government agents without so much as a sound. She jumped down the manhole across the river and began running for the school.

* * *

><p>Alex was gliding to the edge of the desert sector with the help of Jeremy.<p>

"You should see the edge of the sector now," said Jeremy to Alex.

Alex looked down and saw a piece of the terrain jutting out slightly. "Is that it?" he asked.

"Yes," said Jeremy. "Just land down there and I'll call up the transport. You might feel nauseous when you go to Sector Five. Odd used to be when they first started going."

Alex began his descent. Something hit him in his wing and he went crashing to the ground. Alex groaned and began picking himself up.

"Alex, watch out!" cried Jeremy. "You have a crab on your tail!"

Alex looked over his shoulder and saw the large red monster barreling toward him. "Jeremy, what do I do?"

"Eva showed you how to take out a monster," said Jeremy. "You have to hit it in its weak point, the eye marking on its head."

"Okay," said Alex, jumping up. He stood in a fighting stance and waited. The crab was coming right for him, shooting all the way. Alex could easily dodge because he was smaller than the other LYOKO warriors. "This would be so much easier if I had my magic."

The crab shot at him. Alex threw out his hand and a green shield formed. The attack was absorbed.

"Nice, Alex," said Jeremy.

"How did I do that?" asked Alex.

"You just have to think about it," said Jeremy. "Outfits and abilities depend on the subconsciousness of the warrior."

Alex nodded to himself. He put out his hand again. A bright beam of green light fired from it, hitting the crab in the leg. The crab tripped and went tumbling onto its face.

"Go for the weak point!" commanded Jeremy.

Alex fired again and destroyed the crab. "I did it!" he cried, jumping up and down.

"That's great, Alex," said Jeremy. "The others are waiting for you."

Alex ran to the edge of the sector and Jeremy inputted the code.

* * *

><p>Yumi and Ulrich were fighting to create a path for Aelita to take into the mountain sector way tower. XANA had sent four crabs to guard the tower, almost as many as it sent to the activated tower.<p>

From her hiding place behind a rock, Aelita fired an energy field. It hit home and one crab was destroyed.

"Triplicate!" said Ulrich, splitting into three.

He ran up to the crabs, one of the copies being shot on the way, and leaped into the air. With a battle cry, he stabbed the crab and jumped away. The remaining copy did the same, getting shot when he did.

The real Ulrich turned to Yumi. "Last one's yours!"

Yumi jumped into the air and threw a fan. It sliced the crab and it exploded. Yumi whirled around. "Okay, Aelita!"

Aelita ran into the tower and Yumi and Ulrich stood guard for any more monsters.

"Have you heard anything from Eva?" asked Yumi.

"Nothing," said Jeremy. "She should be back at school by now."

* * *

><p>Eva was at the school. She was hiding behind a tree on the other side of the track. From what she could see, the XANAfied men had rounded up any unlucky people who didn't escape. There was activity in the lunchroom. Eva's black lips twitched. If she were to take people hostage, she would do it so there was no chance of being shot by police and there would be no chance for the hostages to escape without her knowing. Ideally, she would use a room where she could escape in some fashion and that no one would be able to see her and shoot her. XANA's goons were doing the opposite. They could be seen through the windows of the lunchroom. But why worry about getting shot if you were invincible? No, XANA was watching for a rescue attempt. It hadn't caught any of the LYOKO warriors so it was improvising.<p>

The police had the entire perimeter surrounded. The only thing that kept Eva from being noticed was her invisibility. They were planning to breech. Eva knew if they did that a lot of people were going to die. She needed to do something.

Eva jumped the fence around the track and ran to the dorms, taking cover briefly, seeing if anyone had heard her. The police were oblivious.

Barking got Eva's attention. She remembered that they had left Kiwi and Bon Ami in her room when they left. It sounded like Kiwi yipping away, the yappy thing, but then she heard Bon Ami start barking.

Eva ran into the dorm and ran upstairs to see what was causing them to bark. There was a XANAfied man going through the girls' rooms. Stuff was flung into the hallway when he couldn't find what he was looking for. Currently he was in Aelita's room, ripping everything apart.

Eva slammed into him and threw him against the wall. The man looked around, not seeing what hit him. Eva became visible and slammed her foot into his gut, twisting around and kicking him in the face. The man grabbed her and lifted her off her feet. Eva grunted and used a power pulse to separate them. She ran up to him and did a back-flip, her boot striking him in the face. The force sent the man flying, crashing through the window and falling to the ground. Eva went to the window. The man was still moving. It took a lot more than a fall to hurt someone who was XANAfied.

Eva left Aelita's room and went to her own. She opened the door and left Kiwi and Bon Ami out. They both stepped back at first, but Bon Ami recognized his owner and went to her, licking a gloved hand.

"Good boy," said Eva.

Bon Ami barked once and started for the door. Eva followed, Kiwi on her heels. The police were now breeching the dorms, but Eva and the dogs went out the back before they were noticed. Bon Ami stopped and pointed to the lunchroom.

Eva followed the dog's gaze. "I think I understand," she said.

She put the dogs somewhere safe before turning invisible once more.

In the lunchroom, students, families, and teachers sat on the floor, their captures saying nothing to them and paying little attention. Ms. Hertz was bent over Jim, tending to the electrocution burns he had received from protecting some of the students who managed to escape.

Jim opened his eyes. "Suzanne," he said with a smile.

"Hold still," said Ms. Hertz. "Don't talk. Save your strength."

"Those other kids," said Jim. "Did they make it?"

"They made it out," said Ms. Hertz.

Jim smiled. "What about Eva?"

Ms. Hertz didn't know how to answer that. She hadn't seen Eva since the open house. No one there knew where she was.

"Suzanne?" Ms. Hertz looked back at Jim. He was worried. "Where's Eva?"

Ms. Hertz shook her head. "I don't know, Jim. I haven't seen her. She's not here."

There was a sound outside. The men turned to the windows. There was nothing there. They looked at each other and one went to the door.

The door was sent flying inwards, smacking into the man's face. The XANAfied men looked at each other and began firing electric attacks at the open door.

There was a loud thump on a table and the sound of running footsteps. Eva appeared briefly as she jumped from the table, slamming both feet into a XANAfied man's chest, sending him across the room. A third and fourth made a grab for the LYOKO warrior. Eva, on her back, spun around, her boots catching them in the head. She spun around and got onto her knees before bending over backwards and doing a back handspring on the table. The man she sent flying across the room was on his feet and coming at her. A power pulse hit him and this time he went behind the counter. Eva was grabbed from behind. She threw all of her weight forward and the man tumbled off her. She grabbed him by the belt and hoisted him out the window. Eva was then kicked in the stomach and the punched in the back. She landed on her face and someone stomped on her.

Glancing up through narrow eyes, Eva saw Ms. Hertz beside an injured Jim. That tore it for Eva.

The man went to stomp on her again. Eva put her hands under her and pushed up. The man was thrown off balance and tumbled back. Eva got onto her hands, her feet in the air, and spun around, kicking the other man in the gut.

Back on her feet, Eva saw the man she had hit with the door come at her. She punched him in the face, metal knuckles adding to the damage. The XANAfied man hit the floor hard. Eva looked around. It didn't look like any of XANA's goons were getting up any time soon.

Eva ran over to Ms. Hertz and Jim. Ms. Hertz was startled by Eva.

"Jim," said Eva. "Jim, wake up."

"Eva?" moaned Jim.

"That's right," said Eva.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Why didn't you run?"

Eva didn't answer. She was looking over Jim's wounds. She knew quite a bit of first aid, considering she had taken beatings over the years, but she wasn't sure what to do for electrocution burns.

"Jeremy," said Eva. "Jim's really hurt. How much longer until you can run the program?"

"Aelita just finished the mountain sector," Jeremy informed her. "She, Yumi, and Ulrich are heading for Sector Five right now."

"Okay," said Eva. She looked around at the scared faces of the hostages. "Tell them to hurry. I just tangled with four of XANA's men in the lunchroom. It has hostages, Jeremy. The police are here and they are ready to breech. I don't know how many more men XANA has out there, but they are looking for something. I caught one tearing through the girls' dorms."

"Just hang in there, Eva," said Jeremy.

"How am I on life points?" asked Eva.

Jeremy checked his monitor. "Don't take any big hits and you can last for a while."

"Okay," said Eva.

Jeremy contacted the others. "Let's hurry," he said. "Eva is okay for now, but she doesn't know how many more assaults from XANA she can handle."

"Got it, Jeremy," said Ulrich. "We're at the edge of the sector now."

"I'm calling up your transport," said Jeremy, inputting the Scipio code.

The transport came and took the three LYOKO warriors to Sector Five. The others were waiting for them at the open wall.

"Cool getup," Yumi said to Alex when she saw him.

Alex beamed. "Thank you! I took down my first monster all by myself!" he said gleefully.

"And there will be plenty more to come," said Odd.

"Come on," said Aelita. "We don't have much time."

They started into Sector Five.

"Any traps we should be worried about, Einstein?" asked Ulrich.

"None," said Jeremy. "Go across the room and take the passageway to the elevator. Your vehicles will be waiting in the Celestial Dome. Cover for Aelita as best you can and whatever you do, Alex, don't fall."

"Digital sea?" Alex questioned.

"Yep," said Kayla. "Stick with me and you'll be fine."

They took the elevator to the Celestial Dome. Aelita ran for the interface and began uploading the program. The others waited on the platform with her, keeping an eye out for flying mantas.

"You have less than a minute before the mantas appear," Jeremy told them.

The phone icon popped up on Jeremy's screen. It was Sissi. He clicked on the window to answer the phone.

"Jeremy, something really weird is happening," said Sissi. "I hear people talking about someone going in and taking out the men who were attacking the school."

"Oh, that," said Jeremy. "I know about it. It was Eva."

"Eva?" asked Sissi.

"Yes, I managed to send her to our world with her powers," said Jeremy.

"That's great," said Sissi. "But now the police are going in. Will they attack her?"

"Most likely," said Jeremy. "Hold that thought, Sissi." He clicked on another window. "Eva, you better get out of there. The police are coming in."

"I'm not leaving Jim," said Eva sternly.

"Eva, either leave or you run the risk of being shot," said Jeremy. "I'll call you in if I have to."

Eva growled. She did not want to leave Jim in the condition he was in.

Ms. Hertz tapped her shoulder. "Go. It's all right," she said. "Jim will be fine. I'll make sure he gets the first ambulance to the hospital."

Eva nodded. With that, she turned and jumped out the broken window, turning invisible as she did.

"What do you need me to do?" Eva asked.

"Right now I need you to stay near the school and look out for any more of XANA's new minions," replied Jeremy. "Aelita's in Sector Five right now."

"Call me in if you need to," said Eva.

* * *

><p>Aelita knew that her minute of peace would be over any second. She could hear the mantas' cries as they came for her.<p>

"Keep working, Aelita," said Ulrich, drawing his sabers.

Odd and Yumi got on their vehicles and took off to meet the mantas before they could get around to Aelita.

"What do you need me to do?" asked Alex.

"You stay with Aelita," said Kayla. "You, too, William. Ulrich, you and I can join Yumi and Odd."

"Why do I have to stay?" asked William.

"You can protect Aelita better if you do," said Kayla. "You may be clumsy with your sword while you're on your cycle. I don't want to lose you."

William looked over the side and down at the bottom of the dome. "And I don't want to be XANA's slave again."

"Good," said Kayla. She jumped onto her glider. "Then stay here."

Yumi threw her fan and destroyed one manta while Odd was busy entertaining two more. Ulrich and Kayla soon came around the side and Kayla smashed her morning star into one. Odd whipped his board around and shot the remaining one.

"This is almost too easy," said Odd. "It's like shooting mantas in a barrel."

"I rather have that then have them swimming in the sea," said Ulrich.

"Get ready," said Jeremy. "More are coming."

Three more mantas came and the four airborne LYOKO warriors engaged.

Meanwhile William and Alex were keeping an eye on Aelita.

"How's it coming?" asked William.

"It would go faster if I didn't have people talking to me," said Aelita, scrambling to get the program working.

A shot fired over her shoulder. They turned and saw a creeper heading for them.

"I got it," said William, running forward with his sword on his shoulder.

The creeper fired at William, who swatted the attack away like it was nothing. He cut the creeper in half. With a satisfied smile, he shouldered his sword again.

"Look out, Aelita!" Jeremy yelled.

William turned to see a manta zoom over Aelita's head. Alex whirled and fired his green energy beams at it, causing damage to its wing. Ulrich came to the rescue and destroyed the manta.

"Everyone okay?" Ulrich asked, pulling up to Aelita.

"Yes," replied Aelita, resuming her work. A few seconds later she announced, "It's working! The locks have been changed, Jeremy."

"Okay, now get out of there," said Jeremy. "I'm opening a tunnel so you can get to the mountain sector."

Kayla, Yumi, and Ulrich pulled around to pick up William, Alex, and Aelita. With Odd brining up the rear, they left Sector Five.

"Oh, boy," said Jeremy, looking at the area around the activated tower. "XANA's called in reinforcements."

The others were coming up on the tower.

"You think?" Odd laughed nervously.

XANA now had an army of crabs protecting the activated tower.

"XANA really doesn't like us today," said William.

"It never did like us," said Ulrich.

"Jeremy, I think we're going to need everyone on this," said Kayla.

Jeremy nodded. "I'm calling in Eva right now. It'll take a minute or two for her to get there."

* * *

><p>Eva left the real world and found herself on the floor of a tower.<p>

"Eva, get to the mountain sector," said Jeremy.

Eva jumped to her feet and ran outside to see her overboard waiting for her. With Jeremy's guidance, she was on her way to the way tower that would lead to the mountain sector.

The others were doing everything they could to clear a path for Aelita. Aelita and Alex had taken to the air with their wings and were firing long range blasts to put a dent in the ranks of the crabs. Ulrich and William were moving as fast as they could to cut off the legs of crabs and Odd and Yumi were finishing the job. All of them were taking damage as they went. Aelita got hit and went down.

"Aelita, no!" cried Jeremy.

Aelita got to her feet and shook her head to clear it. She looked up and heard a familiar, unwelcome sound. She turned and saw Scyphozoa coming up to her. It had her in its tentacles and was lifting her to drain her memories.

"The Scyphozoa!" Jeremy said frantically. "Kayla!"

Kayla turned and saw what was happening. At the same time that Aelita was being attacked, two crabs circled in to make sure there was nothing to interrupt the process of stealing the keys to LYOKO once again.

Kayla focused and disappeared, swapping places with Aelita. Kayla forced the Scyphozoa to release her. She attacked, managing to hit it in such a way that its red body cracked. The Scyphozoa retreated and the crabs fired on Kayla. Kayla was devirtualized. She stumbled out of the scanner and began walking to the ladder, doubled over with pain.

Aelita had landed in Kayla's glider that Jeremy had taken control of remotely. She woke up and took the controls. The glider was a large target and the crabs were taking shots at it.

There was a streak of blue and black diving for the ground. A white flash appeared and then disappeared. A crab, its LYOKO symbol now blue instead of red, shot another and then the light appeared and then disappeared again, the crab who attacked the other exploding.

"It's Eva!" cried Yumi.

"We have help," said Odd.

Alex fired from above and he too was hit and devirtualized. He found himself in the scanner curled in a ball. He gasped and crawled out of it.

The crabs began attacking each other when they saw the flash of white. They knew it was Eva and if they could shoot her while she was in a monster, they could devirtualize her. Eva jumped out of one crab and aimed to possess another when one crab shot her in the leg and she was sent to the ground. She rolled and recovered, but not quick enough to dodge another attack, this one in her stomach. Now only six LYOKO warriors remained. This was soon turned to five when William took a major hit.

* * *

><p>"As soon as you find an opening, Aelita, you go for it," Jeremy told her as Eva and William joined the others upstairs.<p>

"You know, this is all well and fine," said Kayla. "We defeat XANA and keep it from escaping into the network. But what about the return to the past? We still need a plan to keep those men in black away from the Hermitage and factory or all of this will happen again."

"I think I might be able to do something about that," said Alex. "If a return to the past means what I think it means, there will be plenty of time to put my plan into effect."

"Okay," said Jeremy. "Just so you know, only the nine of us will remember any of this happened. Sissi and Nicolas haven't been in the scanners before, so they're not immune."

Eva reached forward with a quick snap of her hand and took a pen out of Kayla's skirt pocket without Kayla noticing.

"Alex," she said. "I need you to write down your mobile number."

"On what?" asked Alex, taking the pen from Eva.

They turned to her and Eva extended her hand.

"I have a photographic memory," said Eva. "This will be erased in the return to the past, but if I can see it, I can remember it."

Alex looked at her incredulously.

"Trust me," said Kayla. "It's how she memorized every line of _A Midsummer Night's Dream_."

"You like that play?" asked Alex.

"Yes," said Eva. "We're doing it for the spring play."

Alex gave a strange smirk. He wrote down his mobile number on Eva's palm.

"Hey, that's my pen!" Kayla said. Alex finished and Kayla took the pen from him, giving Eva a dirty look. "You know I don't like it when you play pickpocket," Kayla reprimanded.

Eva turned to Jeremy. "How are the others doing?" she asked.

"Not so good," said Jeremy. "Yumi has twenty life points left and Odd and Ulrich have ten each."

"What about Aelita?" asked Kayla.

"Thirty, but she can't take another hit," said Jeremy.

* * *

><p>"Aelita, I'm going to make an opening!" cried Yumi.<p>

"I'm right behind you, Yumi!" Odd yelled.

Odd and Yumi ran up to the crabs and attacked. Two crabs were destroyed and Odd took a hit from another, devirtualizing him. Aelita ran behind Yumi as Yumi tried to take out another crab. The opening they made was enough. Aelita ran passed the crabs and into the tower.

"It's over," said Jeremy.

Aelita floated to the top of the tower. She landed on the platform and the interface appeared. She put her hand on it.

Aelita.

Code: LYOKO.

Back at school, the possessed government agents were getting back on their feet. They suddenly dropped like stones.

"Tower deactivated," Aelita announced.

The tower went black. At the bottom a white light appeared.

"Return to the past now!" said Jeremy, hitting the return key.

The light swallowed up the factory, the town, the country, and then the entire world, resetting everything and wiping the memories of everyone who never went to LYOKO.


	8. Reverse the Curse

Alex jolted awake. It was the middle of the night. He grabbed his mobile and looked at the time. Three in the morning, the same day as the open house. He had gone back in time and remembered everything that happened during the open house. And it would happen again if he didn't stop it.

In front of the factory, Alex quietly chanted a spell that would keep anyone who would want to steal the secrets of LYOKO to create another XANA. And what was that about the Hermitage? Alex wasn't sure where or that was, but he took a wild guess and hoped that the spell he was casting would affect the Hermitage. When he was finished, he turned and ran back to the hotel, hoping that his parents and Owen had not noticed that he had left.

Alex had just crawled back into bed when his mobile rang. There was a text message from an unknown number. Curious to who it was, Alex opened the message.

**Thy hand once flesh now flesh again for with this rhyme I do mend. Blood and bone, cold stone no more, undone the Cauldron's magic forevermore.**

The message was unsigned, but Alex had a feeling who sent it.

Alex got out of bed again and went to Owen's room. Owen was asleep, but Alex was not sure for how long. Alex had the message displayed on his mobile screen and he gathered his magic. Owen was lying on his right side, his left hand up by the pillow where Alex could see it.

"Don't wake up," breathed Alex.

Alex swallowed hard. "Thy hand once flesh now flesh again for with this rhyme I do mend. Blood and bone, cold stone no more, undone the Cauldron's magic forevermore."

Alex watched as Owen's stone hand turned to flesh and blood again. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw that his spell had worked. Owen stirred. Alex froze before bolting back to his room.

**It worked.**

Alex sent the message and waited for a reply. A minute later there was a beep that a new message had been sent to him.

**Look out your window.**

Alex frowned and walked over to the window. He looked down. Standing on the sidewalk dressed in a black sweatshirt and baggy jeans was Eva. The light from her mobile illuminated her face and she looked like her LYOKO form. Alex waved to her and Eva waved back.

**Is it done?**

Alex wrote back, **It's done. They won't go to the factory or the Hermitage. Disaster averted.**

**Good. See you at the open house.**

Alex smiled at the message and went back to bed.

* * *

><p>Eva came back to her dorm earlier than she had before. She wanted a little rest before she had to get up. It was not long before Odd and Ulrich came to her room and presented her with the blue phoenix top.<p>

"Thank you again," said Eva. She gave them a look. "I know you want to go for your jog, but tell me something. Is this just some ruse to get me away from school while you plan something?"

Odd and Ulrich started.

"How did you know?" asked Odd.

Eva smirked. "I didn't. You just told me."

Ulrich gave Odd a jab in the side. "Nice going, Odd," he said. "Guess the cat's out of the bag now."

Odd simply shrugged. "That means we just get to party early then."

"Party?" asked Eva.

"Come on," said Ulrich. "I'll round up everyone else."

They ate their breakfast and moved to the auditorium. Parents came with their children for the open house. Among them was Alex and his family. The LYOKO warriors saw that Owen's hand was now flesh and blood. Alex beamed at them and slipped over to talk.

"What happened?" asked Jeremy.

"Eva gave me what I needed to undo the magic on his hand," explained Alex.

They went into the auditorium. There was the cake, the snacks, and the present from Nicolas.

"This is to congratulate you on your success," said Sissi.

"I think it can be more than that," said Eva. She looked over at Alex. "Welcome to the team, Alex."

Sissi and Nicolas frowned.

"Did we miss something?" asked Sissi.

"We'll tell you later," said Ulrich with a chuckle.

They cut the cake and passed out the pieces. Nicolas presented his gift to Eva.

"I hope you like it," he said. "I didn't know what to get you."

Eva felt the wrapping paper. Whatever it was was soft. She pulled off the paper. Looking at her with black glass eyes was a plush elephant.

"It's adorable!" said Aelita.

Kayla gave Eva a sympathetic look. "Eva, he didn't know. I didn't tell him," she quickly said.

Nicolas was confused. "What? She doesn't like elephants?"

Eva stared at the plush toy for a moment before squeezing it to her chest. "It's fine, Nicolas. I love it. Thank you." She started to choke up.

"Are you okay?" asked Yumi.

Eva nodded and forced a smile. "I'm fine," she said. "Let's eat."

Alex took something out of his pocket. "Here," he said. "Since you're doing _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, I thought you would like this."

Alex handed Eva a copy of the play. She flipped through the pages and saw notes in the margins.

"It's Uncle Puck's," Alex explained. "He's insane, but in a funny way. If you really want to the crowd to laugh themselves silly, check out some of his notes."

"Thanks, Alex!" said Odd, taking the book from Eva and looking through it.

"I'll need it back," said Alex. "If you can mail it to me when you're finished, that would be great."

"We'll do better than that," Odd said with a giggle. "I'll record the play so you can watch it at home."

"That would be nice," said Alex.

They finished their cake and exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses. They were going to stay in touch with Alex no matter where in the world he was.

Alex left and joined up with his family.

"Everything all right, Alex?" asked Xanatos.

"Everything's great," replied Alex with a grin. He looked over his shoulder to see the LYOKO warriors watching him leave.

Owen looked over his shoulder. "I suppose I should reprimand you for using magic, especially magic on me."

Alex cringed.

"But in light of your accomplishment, I will let it slide," said Owen with a slight smirk.

"How did you come up with a spell to reverse the effects of the Cauldron of Life, Alex?" asked Fox. "I know you are talented, but it seems that it shouldn't have been possible without some coaching from Puck."

Alex gave his mother a mischievous look. "That's a trade secret, Mom," he said and got into the car.

* * *

><p><strong>Game over? No way! This is only part 1. Thank you for being patient with me. As always reviews are a joy for me whether they are good or bad.<br>**


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